Organization for Economic Co-operation and

Development (OCED)

Background/ Introduction

OCED stands for Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. OCED was
actually established in the year 1948 to run the US-financed Marshall Plan for reconstruction
of a continent ravaged by war. By making individual governments recognize the
interdependence of their economies, it paved the way for a new era of cooperation that was to
change the face of Europe. It was encouraged by the success and the prospect of carrying its
work forward but on a global platform, therefore Canada and US joined OEEC members in
signing the new OCED convention on December14th, 1960. But it officially came into force on
3th September 1961. Recently it celebrated its 50th anniversary but it has its roots back into the
time after world war II. Determined to avoid the mistakes of their predecessors in the wake of
the World War I, European leaders realized that the best way to ensure lasting peace was to
encourage a cooperative group and reconstruct the whole thing, rather than punish the
defeated1.

Other countries joined in, starting with Japan in 1964. Today, 35 OCED member countries
worldwide regularly turn to one another to identify problems, discuss and analyse them and
promote policies to solve them. The record of such is striking. The US has seen its national
wealth almost triple in the five decades since the OCED was created, calculated in terms of
gross domestic product per head of population. Other OCED countries have seen similar and,
in some cases even more spectacular progress. The OCED accounts for 80% of world trade
and investment, giving it a pivotal role in addressing the challenges facing the world economy.

Mission of OCED- The mission of the organization for Economic Co-operation and
development (OCED) is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-
being of people around the world.

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https://www.oecd.org/about/ , last visited on 2/4/2019

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This organization analysis and compares data to predict future trends. They set international
standards on a wide range of things, from agriculture and tax to the safety of chemicals. They
work with governments to understand what drives economic, social and environmental change.

Organs of the OCED

Council- The council of the OCED is vested with the decision-making power. It consists of
one representative of every member country, plus a representative of the European
Commission. This Council regularly meets at ministerial level once a year to discuss key issues
and set priorities for OCED work. The work is mandated by the Council and is carried out by
the OCED Secretariat. The council carries out the very important work of providing oversight
and strategic direction to the whole OCED2.

Committees- Representatives of the 35 OECD member countries meet in specialised

committees to advance ideas and review progress in specific policy areas, such as economics,
science, trade, employment, education or financial markets. There are about 250 committees,
working groups and expert groups. Some 40 000 senior officials from national administrations
go to OECD committee meetings each year to request, review and contribute to work
undertaken by the OECD Secretariat. Once they return home, they have online access to
documents and can exchange information through a special network.

Secretariat- Angel Gurría heads the OECD Secretariat and is assisted by one or more Deputy
Secretaries-General. Mr Gurría also chairs the Council, providing the link between national
delegations and the Secretariat. The Secretariat in Paris is made up of some 2 500 staff who
support the activities of committees, and carry out the work in response to priorities decided
by the OECD Council. The staff includes economists, lawyers, scientists and other
professionals. Most staff members are based in Paris but some work at OECD centres in
other countries.

OCED and India

The OCED Council at Ministerial level adopted a resolution on 16th May 2007 to strengthen
co-operation with India, as well as with Brazil, China, Indonesia and South Africa, through a
program of enhanced engagement, defining these countries as key partners of OCED. As a key
partner, India is included in OCED analysis and statistical database. Its participation in OCED
bodies and for encouraged means of allowing Indian policy makers to benefit from the OCED’s
technical expertise and analytical capacity3.

India has been an important contributor to a rand of OCED standard-setting activities. It

adheres to twelve OCED legal instruments and plays an active role in the development of
international standards on international taxation, corporate governance, competition,
chemicals, steel and energy. In this context, India signed the ground-breaking Multilateral

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https://www.oecd.org/about/whatwedoandhow/ , last visited on 3/4/2019
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http://www.oecd.org/india/indiaandtheoecd.htm, last visited on 3/4/2019

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Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit
Shifting in June 2017. It has also participated in efforts to develop inclusive and progressive
legal instruments for corporate governance and competition – on equal footing with OECD
Member countries – and collaborates with the OECD in this type of engagement in the G20 .

India is also a member of five autonomous OECD hosted programmes. It has been a member
of the OECD Development Centre since 2001, and joined the International Transport Forum
(ITF) in 2001 and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in 2010. India became an
Association country of the International Energy Agency (IEA), a partner organisation to the
OECD, in March 2017. As the world’s third largest energy consumer, its enhanced
collaboration with the IEA will enable important opportunities for mutual learning and help
pave the way for a more secure and sustainable energy future.

This growing engagement has been reflected in the wider inclusion of economic, social and
environmental data and analyses on India in OECD publications and databases. An increasing
number of knowledge-sharing events have also been jointly organised by India and the OECD,
and have led to a rise in the number of high-level visits by the OECD officials to India. In turn,
the OECD has been honoured to receive Indian Ministers and high-level officials at the annual
OECD Ministerial Council Meeting in recent years. A further enhanced partnership will help
support both India and Member countries in effective policy making and good practice
benchmarking4.

Recent happening news of OCED-> Co-organised with SEBI, the OECD held bilateral
meetings with stock exchanges, regulators, private sector and academics focusing on the
corporate governance of company groups, the role of institutional investors and recent
corporate governance developments. These meetings were conducted from 15th to 18th January
of this year.
Members and Partners

Accession- In May 2013, the OECD Council decided to launch accession discussions with
Colombia and Latvia; in April 2015, it invited Costa Rica and Lithuania to open formal OCED
accession talks. Latvia became a member in 2016 and Lithuania joined the OECD in July 2018.
In a previous accession round in 2007, the OECD Council decided to open accession
discussions with Chile, Estonia, Israel, the Russian Federation and Slovenia. In 2010,
Chile, Estonia, Israel and Slovenia became Members5.

Key partners-In May 2007, the Council, meeting at ministerial level, invited the Secretariat to
strengthen OECD cooperation with Brazil, India, Indonesia, the People's Republic of China
and South Africa through "Enhanced Engagement" programmes. These Key Partners
contribute to the OECD's work in a sustained and comprehensive manner. A central element
of this cooperation is the promotion of direct and active participation of the Key Partners in the
work of substantive bodies of the Organisation.

Global relations- Over time, OECD’s focus has broadened to include extensive contacts with
non-Members and it now maintains co-operative relations with a large number of them. The

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http://www.oecd.org/india/oecd-indiaworkoncorporategovernance.htm, last visited on 1/4/2019
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https://www.oecd.org/about/membersandpartners/, last visited on 2/4/2019

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Global Relations Secretariat (GRS) develops and oversees the strategic orientations of OECD’s
global relations with non-Members. More than 15 Global Fora have been established to address
trans-boundary issues where the relevance of OECD work is dependent on policy dialogue with
non-Members.
Regional initiatives cover Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia; Asia; Latin America; the
Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The Sahel and West Africa Club creates, promotes
and facilitates links between OECD Members and West Africa.
Helping improve public governance and management in European Union Candidate Countries,
Potential Candidates, and European Neighbourhood Policy partners is the mission of a joint
OECD-EU initiative, the Support for Improvement in Governance and Management (SIGMA)
(It is a joint initiative of the OCED and the European Union. Its key objective is to strengthen
the foundations for improved public governance and hence support socio-economic
development) programme.

How is OCED funded?

OECD is funded by its member countries National contributions are based on a formula which
takes account of the size of each member's economy. Countries may also make voluntary
contributions to financially support outputs in the OECD programme of work.
The size of OECD's budget and its programme of work are determined on a two-year basis by
member countries. The Organisation's planning, budgeting and management are all organised
on a results-based system. Independent external auditing of the Organisation’s accounts and
financial management is performed by a Supreme Audit Institution of an OECD member
country, appointed by the Council. Unlike the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund,
OECD does not dispense grants or make loans6.

Functions

The OECD publishes economic reports, statistical databases, analyses and forecasts on the
outlook for economic growth worldwide. Reports are variously global, regional or national in
orientation. The group analyzes and reports on the impact of social policy issues such as gender
discrimination on economic growth, and makes policy recommendations designed to foster
growth with sensitivity to environmental issues. The organization also seeks to eliminate
bribery and other financial crime worldwide. The OECD maintains a so-called "black list" of
nations that are considered uncooperative tax heavens. It led a two-year effort with the Group
of 20 (G20) nations to encourage tax reform worldwide and eliminate tax avoidance by
profitable corporations. The recommendations presented at the end of the project included an
estimate that such avoidance costs the world's economies between $100 billion and $240 billion

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https://www.oecd.org/about/publishing/

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in tax revenue annually. The group provides consulting assistance and support to nations in
central and eastern Europe that implement market-based economic reforms.

OCED publishing is one of the world’s largest publishers of books in the fields of economics
and public affairs. It publishes more than 250 new books, 40 updates statistical databases, and
thousands of new statistical tables, working papers and journal articles each year. There is also
monthly e-newsletter highlighting key new books, reports and statistics from various OCED
sources. The OCED library online brings the full range of OCED books. Papers and statistics
in PDF,WED and XML formats for online users at universities, governments nad think tanks
all around the world.

Work of OCED

The OCED Gender Initiative- Recognising the importance of gender equality, the OCED has
embarked on a horizontal project in Gender equality in three areas key to economic opportunity
that is- education, employment and entrepreneurship. The latest Interim Report on the Gender
Initiative was presented at the 50th anniversary meeting of the OCED.

Work on Gender at the OCED- For many years, the OECD has collected separate statistics on
men and women. Outcomes for men and women can vary greatly, across all areas of life.
These indicators help shape OECD policy advice. OECD research looks at why gender
inequalities occur, the implications of such inequalities for economic development and what
can be done to develop policies for parity. The organisation believes that government policies
cannot be ‘gender-blind’.In response to an increased interest in gender issues, OECD has
taken several steps to address gender both within the OECD and around the world. In 2005,
OECD established an Organisation-wide network on gender (OWN) as part of their diversity
initiative. OWN is a staff-based program aimed at promoting gender equality and diversity
within the OECD. Externally, the OECD has created a topical gender page on their website.

The OCED Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs- The Directorate for
Employment, Labour and Social Affairs leads the OCED’s work on employment, social
policies, international migration and health. It conducts activities on employment, social
policies and international migration. They work on a number of projects to help countries
promote stronger and more inclusive growth in a context of digitalisation, globalisation and
rapid demographic change. These include the Future of Work project and the revision of the
OCED jobs strategy, which also feed into the OCED Going Digital horizontal project and the
OCED skills strategy.

The OCED Centre of Opportunities- This centre works on diversity and social inclusion,
looking at how they get the most out of diverse socities and fight discrimination. They also
lead the OCED project to Ensuring the Effective Integration of Vulnerable Migrants, to
enhance the integration of migrants and refugees. Latin American Economic Outlook 2019-
Latin America and the Caribbean has seen remarkable socio-economic progress since the
beginning of the century. The macroeconomic situation of individual countries has
strengthened, living standards have improved, and poverty and inequality have declined. Yet
large structural vulnerabilities remain and new ones have emerged. Many of these are linked
to countries’ transition to higher income and development levels. The Latin American
Economic Outlook 2019: Development in Transition (LEO 2019) presents a fresh analytical

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approach in the region. It assesses four development traps relating to productivity, social
vulnerability, institutions and the environment. It outlines local opportunities for responding to
those traps and seeks ways of improving global public goods to reinforce national agendas, all
in the context of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. LEO 2019 calls for improving domestic
capacities and adopting a new vision of international co-operation as a facilitator to support
those efforts.

Conclusion

OCED was made effective after the world war II to help promote policies that will improve the
economic and social well-being of the people around the world. It is a global platform given to
countries to discuss about their problems and find an accumulative solution. OCED helps
various governments to work together to share experiences. OCED also helps restore
confidence in markets and institutions that help them to function properly. It also helps re-
establish healthy public finances as a basis for future sustainable economic growth.
Today, when most of the nations are in a competitive state with each other, it is very important
for organizations like OCED to help the different governments of various countries come
together, share their problems, solutions and experiences and learn from each other. Such
organisations play a very vital role.