PM Ciuca: OECD accession - opportunity to implement best practices and standards

The process of joining the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an opportunity to implement best practices and standards, Romania's goal being to provide citizens with all the economic and political benefits deriving from the status of member state of this organization, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said on Thursday.The Prime Minister chaired on Thursday, as national coordinator, a new meeting of the Interministerial Committee for the coordination of Romania's relations with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, this being the second held after the invitation addressed to our country, in January, to start negotiations for the accession to this inter-governmental forum, informs an Executive's release.The meeting assessed the situation of targets included in the first part of the Roadmap transmitted to Romania, in the perspective of the annual OECD Ministerial Conference, scheduled for June 9-10, in Paris, when the approval of the projects of the Roadmaps of all countries invited to join the Organization is stipulated for, the quoted source also mentions."The accession process is an opportunity to implement the best practices and standards of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Our goal as a country is to provide our citizens with all the economic and political benefits that flow from the Member State, together with states holding more than 70% of global production and trade and 90% of global foreign direct investment," the PM said.According to the Executive, the elements of the initial roadmap for Romania include: the establishment and functionality of the legal framework for the application of the Anti-Bribe Convention and the related implementation program (under the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice), the Codes for Liberalization of capital flows and invisible operations (under the responsibility of Ministry of Finance) and corporate governance of state-owned enterprises (under the responsibility of Ministry of Finance, with a large participation of many ministries that have in their subordination such enterprises and which have to implement this legislation).Another topic discussed was the participation of Romanian representatives in meetings organized by the OECD.In this context, PM Ciuca underlined the importance of the way in which the representation of the Romanian side is prepared, considering that it is a very technical process and that this participation is evaluated as a criterion for interest and admission.The members of the Interministerial Committee decided to set up a task force at the Government level, in order to be able to manage and integrate these negotiations, which are extremely technical.The accession to the OECD is a strategic objective of Romania's foreign policy, included in the Government Program, the Executive also shows.The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development was established in 1961 and is an inter-governmental forum dedicated to identifying, disseminating and evaluating the implementation of appropriate public policies to ensure sustainable economic growth and social stability. The OECD has 38 members, most of them Europeans (23), developed countries, holding more than 70% of global production and trade and 90% of the world's foreign direct investment, the quoted source said.