The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) announced this Tuesday that it will begin the process of discussions for the accession of Argentina, Brazil and Peru as members.
The opening of talks on the accession of these three Latin American and three European countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, and Romania) was decided at a meeting of the OECD Council, according to a statement from the organization.
According to the resolution, the evaluation of the candidacies will begin to determine if these countries comply with “the preservation of individual freedom, the values of democracy, the rule of law and the protection of human rights.”
In addition, OECD members should be committed to “an open market economy based on free trade, competition, sustainability and transparency,” said the text.
“The candidate countries will be able to use the accession process to promote further reforms for the benefit of their people,” said OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann after the Council’s decision.
The technical reviews will focus on areas such as trade and investment opening, advances in public governance, efforts to fight corruption and climate change, and environmental protection, the OECD statement explained.
“This process of accession to the OECD it is a recognition that we are a great country“, declared the Minister of Economy of Brazil, Paulo Guedes, commenting during a press conference on the organization’s announcement.
“A third (of the 103 legal requirements fulfilled so far) were fulfilled only in our three years in government, knowing that for two years we are in this pandemic war, so we do not stop our structural reforms,” he added.
For his part, the Peruvian president, Pedro Castillo, thanked the countries of the bloc and Cormann for the decision “to invite Peru to begin the process of accession to the Organization.”
“Our government reiterates its commitment to the values of the OECD for the benefit of its population,” added the president on Twitter.
The OECD has among its 38 member states four Latin American countries: Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia and Mexico.
The OECD countries -founded in 1961- and their key partners account for about 80% of world trade and investment.
