About
- Founded in 1960 by 18 European nations plus the United States and Canada, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an intergovernmental economic organisation
- It has 38 member countries
- Major Aims
- To stimulate economic progress and world trade
- To shape policies that foster prosperity, equality, opportunity and well-being for all
- To identify good practices
- To coordinate domestic and international policies
- It is a forum of countries which are typically democratic and support free-market economies
- Majority of OECD members
- are high-income economies
- have high Human Development Index (HDI)
- are regarded as developed countries
- OECD members represent 42.8% of global GDP
- India is not a member, but a key economic partner
- It is headquartered in Paris, France
Background
- The Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) was formed in 1948 to administer American and Canadian aid in the framework of the Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Europe after World War II
- Later the Convention on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development was drawn up to reform the OEEC
- The Convention was signed in December 1960
- 1961: the OECD officially superseded the OEEC
- OECD agencies
- OECD Development Centre (1961)
- International Energy Agency (1974)
- Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering
Significance of OECD
- OECD is leading an effort with the G20 nations to encourage tax reform worldwide
- OECD members contribute around 42 % global GDP
- OECD is an official UN observer
- It has been recognized as a highly influential publisher of economic data. It publishes economic reports, statistical databases, analyses, and forecasts on the outlook for economic growth worldwide.
- OECD provides consulting assistance and support to nations in central Asia and eastern Europe
- OECD maintains a “black list” of nations that are considered uncooperative tax havens
Objectives of OECD
- Foster economic development and cooperation
- Support sustainable economic growth
- Ending poverty
- Boost employment in their member countries
- Promote economic stability
- Raise standards of living
- maintain member’s financial stability
- Contribute towards expansion of world trade
Composition
- OECD Council
- It is the highest decision-making body
- Its members are ambassadors from member countries and EU
- It is headed by the Secretary-General
- .Forum to discuss key work, and take decisions by consensus
- OECD Council meets annually for the Ministerial Council Meeting, which brings together heads of government, economy, trade and foreign ministers from Member countries
- Committees
- There are more than 300 committees, expert and working groups
- Functions
- Cover all areas of policy making
- Propose solutions
- Assess data and policy successes
- Review policies of members
- Cover areas like education, finance, trade, environment, etc.
- Participants of these committes are from various backgrounds
- Representatives of state bodies
- Academia
- Business
- Civil society
- OECD Secretariat
- It carries out the admin work of the OECD
- It is headed by a Secretary-General
- Its divisions work with policy makers of members
India & OECD
- India is not a member, but a key economic partner
- India is included in OECD analysis and statistical databases
- India benefits from the OECD’s technical expertise and analytical capacity for Policy making
- The Global Relations Secretariat co-ordinates OECD-wide co-operation with India
- OECD-India collaboration areas include
- anti-corruption
- corporate governance
- economic policy
- environment
- fiscal relations
- taxation
- trade and investment
- India is member of about 30 committees of OECD like taxation, transport research, chemicals etc.
- India has membership in
- The Development Centre
- The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes
- The International Transport Forum
- The Financial Action Task Force
Why India did not join OECD ?
- India is cautious about the kind of signal its membership in OECD would give to other emerging countries located in South Asia
- If India decided to join it as a member, it would have to make certain commitments.Once a member joins OECD there are several areas, committees, documents, rules and procedures which a member country has to sign.
- India has not felt it necessary to join so far
Sumit is Creator and Author at learncrisp.com. He started this learning platform with a mission to emerge as an aspirants resource hub, especially for those preparing in self study mode. He loves writing and his interests are History, Security and Diplomacy.