OECD to set up office in Brazil, says Finance Minister

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) plans to set up an office in Brazil, announced Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles. “We have agreed, and we will make it official quickly,” he said, after meeting with OECD Secretary-General Angél Gurría today (Jun 8) in Paris.

Late last month, the government submitted a request to join the 35-country organization, which is founded on principles of representative democracy and free market. According to Alexandre Parola, spokesperson to the Brazilian president, the government has kept a close watch on the OECD's activities since 1994, and was invited for an “expanded engagement” in 2007 with a view to studying Brazil's entry into the organization.

Meirelles went on to describe today's meeting as “extremely positive,” adding that Gurría “expressed great satisfaction” at Brazil's initiative to ask to join the group. “Becoming a OECD member is part of an agenda of economic modernization, with the adoption of modern standards of administration and economic standardization.” he stated.

“OECD's idea is to be an organization that brings together the world's most relevant countries. Brazil is one of these countries today. It's an organization that observes and demands modern rules for economic administration, management, transparency, openness, ethics, etc. Brazil clearly fits this profile. We've been enforcing everything OECD has proposed; it's part of the country's agenda of reforms,” Meirelles added.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira