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In a signing ceremony on Monday, Chile became the first South American country to win membership into the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the exclusive club of industrialised nations.
The ceremony in Santiago followed more than two and a half years of intensive negotiations, government reforms and economic and policy reviews. The country’s membership will be finalised once the Chilean parliament ratifies the OECD’s convention.
All countries seeking membership in the Paris-based group must meet the organisation’s strict admissions requirements on a range of topics, so as to ensure coherence between the newcomer’s policies and those of the organisation’s current members.
To that end, Chile implemented numerous reforms over the course of the negotiations, including lifting restrictions to the exchange of banking information; making it possible for companies to be prosecuted for bribery; and increasing the independence of the country’s largest state-owned enterprise, Codelco, a copper mining firm.
The Chilean economy has registered an annual growth rate of more than 5 percent each year for the past two decades. Moreover, the country has weathered the recent financial crisis well, according to the OECD, thanks to its “prudent tax policies,” which helped generate the revenue necessary to fund government stimulus measures.
Membership in the nearly 50-year-old OECD will allow Chile to participate in the group’s policy discussions and be included in the many economic and statistical analyses for which the organisation is known. Perhaps more important, membership in the prestigious economic group is widely considered a significant mark of prestige.
Mexico is the only other Latin American nation in the OECD, which now, with the addition of Chile, counts 31 countries as members. Slovakia, which joined in 2000, was the most recent country to join before Chile signed up.
The OECD has officially invited four other countries - Estonia, Israel, Russia and Slovenia - to begin membership negotiations. All but Russia are expected to join the organisation this year. Preliminary talks are also underway with Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa.
ICTSD reporting.
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