Secretary General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Angel Gurría has confirmed that the decision to accept Estonia as a member of the OECD would be made this spring. He made the announcement during his meeting with Estonian foreign minister Urmas Paet in Paris.
Paet said that the invitation to join the OECD is high recognition of Estonia’s development thus far. “The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an expert centre that analyses the economy and the development of society. For Estonia, joining the OECD is a chance to share world-class expert information and contribute to this information with our own experiences,” he said.
The OECD is a forum for industrially developed democratic nations which is based in Paris. It was established by nineteen nations on 30 September 1961. The OECD currently has 30 members: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the USA. In January of 2010 Chile also signed an accession agreement with the OECD and will become a full member like Estonia once the domestic proceedings end.
Estonia was invited to begin accession negotiations with the OECD in 2007. After its signing, the agreement of privileges and immunities must be ratified by the Riigikogu.
Toomas Hõbemägi
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