Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

http://www.oecd.org

Basic facts

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an international organisation uniting the 34 most economically developed countries in the world. It represents a unique forum, providing its member states with a space for discussions on sustainable economic growth, improving the standard of living of citizens, employment and the environment. It regularly prepares and publishes studies and the economic statistics of member countries.

The founding Convention on the OECD was signed on 14 December 1960 in Paris by 20 countries, which thus became the founding members of the OECD (Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and the USA). Later, other countries joined the organisation: Japan (1964), Finland (1969), Australia (1971), New Zealand (1973), Mexico (1994), the Czech Republic (1995), Hungary, Poland and Korea (1996), the Slovak Republic (2000), Chile, Estonia, Israel and Slovenia (2010).

The OECD was formerly focused on its members and currently cooperates with more than 100 countries in the world, as well as with non-governmental organisations and civil society.

OECD bodies

The OECD Council is the highest decision-making body of the OECD. It is made up of one representative for each member country, plus a representative of the European Union. The OECD Council meets regularly at the level of the chairs of permanent missions and once a year at the ministerial level (the Ministerial Meeting of the OECD Council) to discuss and set priorities for OECD work.

Experts from governmental institutions and the private and academic sectors of the OECD member countries meet in various committees and working groups, which deal with specific areas. There are currently more than 200 committees and working groups operating within the OECD.

The OECD Secretariat is the OECD executive body. It has its head office in Paris. The Secretariat is headed by the Secretary-General. Since 1 June 2006 this position has been held by Angel Gurría (Mexico). The working languages in the OECD are English and French.

Slovakia's membership in the OECD

The Slovak government submitted an official request for OECD membership along with other Visegrad 4 countries in February 1994. It then became the 30th official OECD member on 14 December 2000 by submitting the ratification document on the accession of Slovakia to the OECD Convention at the organisation's depositary (the government of the French Republic).

OECD membership implies that Slovakia is obliged to pay a membership contribution into the OECD budget.

The Slovak Republic is represented in the OECD by the Permanent Mission of the Slovak Republic at the OECD in Paris, headed by Ambassador Ingrid Brocková.


Activities of the NBS in relation to the OECD

The following OECD committees and working groups are relevant to the tasks, position and powers of the NBS:

  • the Economic Policy Committee (EPC) and its Working Party on Short-Term Economic Prospects (STEP)

  • the Economic and Development Review Committee (EDRC)

  • the Insurance and Private Pensions Committee(IPPC) and, for instance, its Working Party of Governmental Experts on Insurance and the Working Party on Private Pensions

  • the Committee on Financial Markets (CMF) and its Working Party on Financial Statistics.
The NBS presents its views and opinions at the committees through regularly sent representatives. The NBS actively participates in the preparation of the Economic Survey of the Slovak Republic which the OECD prepares every 18 months.

 

 

Updated: February 2011