|
In an address early last month, in Washington, Constance Morella said countries not currently members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) see the Paris-based group as an important forum that can help them design and implement policies leading to obtaining more benefits from globalisation.
Morella is the U.S. permanent representative to the OECD.
"Developing countries cannot contribute to the successful development of the world as a whole unless they become strong partners in the quest for global economic development," Morella said.
As developing countries' economic security and overall well-being improves, so will that of the rest of the world, she said.
Today OECD members account for 60 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP), 76 per cent of world trade and 19 per cent of the world's population, she said.
"The OECD has left an indelible mark on economic development and spans areas as diverse as labour, trade, migration, education, energy, health, industry, taxation and the environment," Morella said.
In addition to providing non-binding principles in such areas as corporate governance and anti-bribery measures to its 30 member countries, the OECD is working with 70 additional countries to help them understand the "rules of the road" -- or operating principles -- for succeeding in the global marketplace, she said.
The organisation's Business Industry Advisory Council allows countries to "set aside rivalries and create a community of nations," Morella said.
The "common understanding" of these principles by OECD members and non-members is that they have a positive effect on the international trade and investment environment for U.S. multinational companies, reducing compliance costs and minimising conflicts between the United States' and other governments' businesses and regulators, she said.
Morella, a former member of the US Congress, said the OECD's work has expanded over the years and now is concentrated in four areas: establishing guidelines for economic and business activity; addressing objectives shared by a majority of its members as well as non-members; helping members and non-members meet domestic challenges; and identifying areas that may pose future challenges and require governments to prepare now to meet them.
Morella is the first former member of Congress to serve as the OECD representative.
The organisation is "a workshop of the global economy" where standards are formed, said Alan Larson, former under secretary of state for economic, business and agricultural affairs. Larson, who spoke after Morella, is a former US representative to the OECD.
OECD is the successor organisation to an international programme known as the Marshall Plan established after the World War 11 to help Europe recover from the devastations of the war.
By courtesy: Washington File
|