On 9 June 2022, the Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edgars Rinkēvičs, took part in the Ministerial Council Meeting of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Organisation (OECD) in Paris, which focused on the economic and other consequences of Russia’s aggression in the post-pandemic world, trade and environmental sustainability, as well as security and energy related topics in the world.
“It is more important than ever that the OECD’s actions are guided by our shared values. Besides unspeakable human losses, the war has caused immense challenges for global economic growth that we must tackle. A looming food crisis, weaning ourselves off Russian fossil fuels and galloping inflation are geopolitical considerations that will determine choosing suppliers of strategic commodities across the globe. In order to stop fuelling Putin’s war machine, we are phasing out Russian energy supplies,” Edgars Rinkēvičs emphasised in a session on economic and other consequences of Russia's large scale aggression in a post-pandemic world.
The Minister expressed Latvia’s support for the establishment of the OECD-Ukraine Liaison Office, while stating that the rebuilding of Ukraine must go hand in hand with the structural reforms and transformation of the state. “There should be an effective coordination among the key international actors. Ukraine wants to get EU candidate status, and the OECD is well placed to facilitate the country’s structural reforms, especially with policy advice on good governance, anti-corruption, investment climate and regional development. To reach these goals, OECD work on Ukraine should be adequately financed. Focusing on Ukraine cannot mean forgetting other countries vulnerable to Russia. We must reinforce dialogue with countries of the Eurasia Regional Programme, including on trade diversification, energy security, as well as addressing disinformation and war propaganda,” the Latvian Foreign Minister underlined.
A session of the OECD Ministerial Council featured a discussion on cooperation between the OECD and African countries. The African countries have a considerable potential of the wind, sun, water and geothermal energy for the development of energy production. For instance, over the time period from 2014 to 2019, the number of people who have access to electric power has doubled, thus exceeding the population growth rates. Approximately 600 million Africans and 10 million small and medium-sized companies have insufficient access to electricity. Millions of African households use charcoal, wood and petroleum as domestic fuel for cooking. Due to current consumption of charcoal, Africa loses three per cent of its forests annually. In addition, one of the greatest problems in Africa is the lack of investments in renewable energy resources. Africa accounts only for two per cent of the total amount of global investments in renewable energy resources over the past 20 years.
Edgars Rinkēvičs pointed to energy as key to development and green transition in Africa that can help resolve many social, economic, health and environmental problems. Africa has a lot of raw materials needed for the green transformation in economy. However, it is vital to prevent competition for those resources from causing or aggravating conflicts and generating additional tension in those areas. For the advantages of green transition to take effect, a comprehensive package of policies is needed to link together environmental goals, job creation, social equality and the overall welfare of society as well as strong institutions and effective coordination at the regional level.
“Latvia appreciates the launch of the OECD’s dialogue with African partners to define perspectives of the OECD–Africa partnership. Africa’s importance on the global stage is rising. Regardless of the manifold challenges, the continent continues to be home to some of the world’s fastest growing economies. Moreover, the new geopolitical situation caused by Russia’s war against Ukraine calls for closer ties with our partners, including in Africa. Latvia is interested in intensifying political dialogue and economic cooperation with African countries bilaterally and through multilateral frameworks.
The Latvian IT and communication sector is already contributing to the digital transformation of the continent. Latvian companies have been providing both hardware and software solutions and installing data centres and developed networks. For example, in Rwanda – high achiever in e-government – Latvian companies have been setting up national identity and payment systems. In addition to cooperation with Africa at the United Nations and European Union level, we welcome the initiative to forge closer relations with African partners at the OECD. Without partnerships like this, the OECD’s role of a global standard setter will fall short of its ambition,” Edgars Rinkēvičs noted.
The Foreign Minister asserted Latvia’s interest in the positive trends of development in Africa maintaining their momentum. The OECD partnership should be focused and built around priorities defined by African countries. It should target the areas of existing cooperation – domestic resource mobilisation and tax, sustainable investment, quality infrastructure, statistics, as well as gender equality and women empowerment. “As regards the looming world food crisis, we should be clear about its causes. It is brought about by the Russian blockade of the Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea, not by the sanctions on Russia’s unprovoked war against its neighbour,” Edgars Rinkēvičs said.
During the meeting of the Ministerial Council, a new OECD initiative was launched on establishing an international forum (similarly to the one on digitalisation practices in tax administration) for cooperation on climate in order to reduce carbon emissions by pricing carbon (Inclusive Forum on Carbon Mitigation Approaches). The ministerial meeting also saw the opening of the OECD Accession Roadmaps for five candidate countries – Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Peru, and Romania.