On 25 April 2024, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Andris Pelšs, met with the Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Mathias Cormann. During the meeting, the officials addressed bilateral cooperation, the external relations of the OECD, and support to Ukraine.
“OECD recommendations and bilateral cooperation projects with the organization are an important element in policy planning and its implementation in Latvia. They allow us to better evaluate and map out directions for the development of sectoral policies,” Andris Pelšs noted. He also underlined: “The organisation plays an important role in bringing together like-minded countries, who attach importance to values such as a sustainable and inclusive society, individual liberty and democracy. We welcome the OECD’s work towards strengthening those values. We thank the OECD for its support to Ukraine in the reform process”.
At the meeting, Andris Pelšs submitted a letter to the Secretary-General of the OECD expressing Latvia’s intention to join the OECD Development Assistance Committee, the leading international forum for development cooperation providers.
Secretary-General Mathias Cormann has arrived in Latvia on a working visit to present the latest economic review prepared by OECD experts that assesses Latvia’s economic situation. At the same time, the OECD provides recommendations for further economic reforms and investment promotion, which is the main research topic of the latest OECD Economic Survey.
The OECD Development Assistance Committee currently has 32 members: 31 countries and the European Union. The main lines of action of the committee are the collection and analysis of statistical data on development aid flows and the development cooperation systems of donor, experience sharing between member countries, as well as producing recommendations and guidelines on best practices for the donors.