TheCouncil of the OECD met on 23 and 24 May 1995 at
Ministerial level. Themeeting was chaired by Mr. Pedro Solbes,
Minister of Economics and Finance,Mr. Javier Gomez-N avarro,
Minister of Trade and Tourism, and Mr. JavierSolana, Minister of
Foreign Affairs, of Spain. Vice-Chairmen were Mr. YoheiKono,
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr.Ryutaro
Hashimoto, Minister of International Trade and Industry, andMr.
Masahiko Komura, Minister of State for Economic Planning, of
Japan, andMr. Sigbjorn Johnsen, Minister of Finance, and
Mrs. Grete Knudsen, Minister ofTrade and Shipping, of Norway.
Prior to the meeting, the Chairman ledconsultations wit h the
Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) andthe Trade
Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD; bothorganisations
submitted statements for the consideration of Ministers.
Significant economic recovery has been achieved in most
OECD economies sinceMinisters met in 1994. Inflation is low and
there is growing evidence ofdeclining unemployment, although
unemployment rates remain unacceptably highin a number of
countries. OECD governments seek sustainable development and
non-inflationary growth.
A good mix of economic, social and environmentalpolicies, when
consistent with budget restraint, will create jobs,bring
prosperity and strengthen our societies.
COMMITMENTS BYMINISTERS
Building on these developments, and theinterrelationships
world-wide among economic development, tradeliberalisation,
technological advances, employment growth,environmental
protection and social cohesion, Ministers undertake toco-operate
in the following strategy:< /i>
- to sustainnon-inflationary growth through macroeconomic
policies and structural reformsthat reinforce each other,
thereby promoting shared prosperity and generatinga stable
economic and financial environment;
- to fightunemployment as a top priority, particularly that of
the low skilled, youthand the long-term unemployed, which can
lead to social exclusion; and toenhance income potential,
particularly for the low end of the scale; this willhelp to
streng then our societies;
- to maintain pricestability through sound monetary
policy;
- to meet thepressing need for fiscal consolidation and
sustainable fiscal positions inorder to free national savings
for more productive investment and to helpaddress issues such as
the emerging demands of our ageing populations as wellas our
increasing health care requirements;
- to maintainefforts to improve implementation of these
policies, and continue to co-operate on exchange rates, thereby
helping to promote greater stability infinancial markets, to
preserve the ongoing recovery, and to contribute tocontinued
expansion of international trade and investment;
- to improve the ability to adjust and compete in a
globalised
world economythrough strengthened efforts towards structural
reform, thereby promotinggreater economic flexibility,
employment growth and higher living standards;priority areas
include better education and training ( includinglifelong
learning), improving the functioning of labour markets
(including,as appropriate, active labour market policies)
and creating conditions inwhich small and medium-sized
enterprises can flourish;
- topromote regulatory reform and improve transparency in
both
governmentpolicies and markets;
- to further promote adequate prudentialsupervision of
banking
and non-banking financial institutions and greatertransparency
in financial markets;
- to develop policies that fully exploit the contributions
of
advances in technology, particularly information technology, to
growth and employment; and that promote innovation in our
societies;
- to make further progress t
strong and effective World Trade Organisation (WTO) with a
well-functioningand respected dispute settlement
mechanism;
- reaffirm theircommitment to resist protectionism in all
its
forms; remove impediments(including administrative and
structural ones) to the openness of nationalmarkets to global
competition;
- maintain the momentum oftrade liberalisation as a vehicle
for
economic growth through:
- the successful completion of curr entnegotiations,
including those in the services sectors by the dates foreseenin
the GATS (by the end of June for financial services), and the
follow-upactions and negotiations foreseen in the Uruguay
Round FinalAct;
- work towards increased transparency,where
appropriate, of WTO proceedings;
- activelypursuing, through the necessary consensus
building, the possibilities of newinitiatives to reduce in a
global and balanced way trade barriers and oth ertrade distorting
measures
- active preparation for anambitious WTO Ministerial
meeting in Singapore in 1996;
- promote initiatives for domestic regulatory reform aimed at
positivestructural adjustment, especially when they lead to the
liberalisation oftrade and investment flows;
- the immediate start ofnegotiations in the OECD aimed at
reaching a Multilateral Agreement onInvestment by the
Ministerial meeting of 1997, which would:
- provide a broad multilateral framework for
international investment withhigh standards for the
liberalisation of investment regimes and investmentprotection
and with effective dispute settlement procedures;
- be a free-standing international treaty open to all
OECD Members and the European Communities, and to accession by
non-OECD Member countries,which willbe consulted as the
negotiations progress;
- prepare fordiscussions on investment in the WTO which it
would be appropriate to envisagein the future, and encourage the
OECD to co-operate with the WTO to thisend;
- work to obtain ratification and implementation,by
participants, of the Agreement Respecting Normal Competitive
Conditions inthe Commercial Shipbuilding and Repair Industry",
adopted at OECD since theirlast
meeting;
- fully adhere to the letter and spirit of theiragreed tied
aid
credit disciplines.
In vi ew of globalinterdependence and the continuing
importance
of development co-operation,Ministers commit to:
- support the integration ofdeveloping countries and
economies
in transition into the world economicsystem;
- pursue the strategic orientations set out inthe
Development
Assistance Committee's High Level Statement onDevelopment
Partnerships in the New Global Context, including thecontinuing
commitment to mobilise as many public resources as possible and
to encourage private flows to back the self-help efforts of
developingcountries.
MINISTERS' REQUESTS TO THEOECD
Tofacilitate the implementation of the strategy outlined above,
Ministersrequest the OECD to:
- effectively integratemacroeconomic and microeconomic
analyses
and policy recommendations; andmonitor their
implementation;
- continue to work towards abetter understanding of the
economic implications of the functioning ofinternational
financial markets;
- as set out in the report"The OECD Jobs Study: Implementing
the Strategy", monitor the implementationof country-specific
policy recommendations based on that strategy and completethe
planned thematic reviews on active labour market policies; taxes
andbenefits; interactions between macroeconomic and structural
policies; andtechnology, productivity and job creation; and
present a report to Ministersin 1996;
- examine the possibi lity of developing comparableand
standard
measures of human capital investment and commonperformance
indicators of such investment, with a report back to Ministersin
1996;
- consolidate and analyse the policy implications ofageing
populations with an initial report to Ministers by 1996;
- pursue and integrate work on the various aspects of the
reform
of socialprotection systems and services, and on migration;
- continuework on territorial developm ent policies to
respond
to problems ofrestructuring of localities, cities and
regions;
- examinefurther the effects of technology, advances in
knowledge and innovation onproductivity, growth and employment,
and recommend policy principles forknowledge-based economies;
initiate similar work on the Global InformationSociety - Global
Information Infrastructure in consultation, whereappropriate,
with relevant non-governmental partners; and provideMinisters
with reports on both i ssues in 1996;
- Continue toidentify appropriate and cost-effective ways
for
achieving environmentalgoals, inter alia through a better
internalisation of environmentalcosts and the application of the
Polluter Pays Principle, and continue toenhance the mutual
compatibility of economic and environmental policies,looking
towards the 1996 meeting of OECD Ministers of Environment;
contributeto the follow-up to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change,includi ng the implementation and
development of the Climate TechnologyInitiative in co-operation
with the International Energy Agency and theprivate sector;
- continue to pay special attention to thepolicy
implications
of
globalisation and interdependence across the fullspectrum of its
ongoing work.
Aimed at strengthening themultilateral system, Ministers
invite the OECD to:
- continue interdisciplinary work and analysis of the "new"
trade issue s and ofthe openness of national markets to global
competition; as part of this,consider the development of a
broader concept of market access whichencompasses not only
public and private impediments to market entry but alsothe
conditions for investing and conducting business ineach
market;
- in co-operation with the WTO, continue itssuccessful work
on
trade and environment with a view to deepening analysisand
helping to build consensus on options or recommendations for
furth erpromoting the compatibility and reinforcement of trade
and environmentalpolicies;
- proceed with its work on agricultural policyreform;
- continue analysis and dialogue on competition policyand
the
interactions of trade and competition policies, on exportcredits
and on industrial subsidies; complete quickly the revised
transferpricing guidelines;
- continue actively and diligently the workon trade,
employment
and labour standards, as called for by Ministers in1994;
- pursue its monitoring of the progress ofregional
integration,
to help ensure that regional trade initiatives areconsistent
with the newly-strengthened multilateral tradingsystem;
- examine the significance, direction and means ofreform in
regulatory regimes, and undertake exploratory work oncorporate
governance;
- strengthen work on bribery andcorruption in international
transactions and, recognising that inter alia aneff ective
approach, where consistent with national legal regimes, couldbe
to make such bribery a crime, provide the 1996 Ministerial
meeting with afull progress report on the implementation of the
1994 OECDRecommendation.
In an increasingly interdependentworld, Ministers request
the
OECD to:
- elaborate thestrategic orientations for development
co-operation into the next century inthe light of changing
economic, human, environmental and technologica lconditions;
- remain open and selective in its relations withnon-member
economies; maintain the tradition of high standards forOECD
membership and for participation by non-members in the workof
committees and develop flexibly other forms of dialogue and
co-operationwith non-members on the basis of mutual
interest;
- bring theaccession processes of the Czech Republic,
Hungary,
Poland, the SlovakRepublic and Korea to their conclusion as soon
as each of these cou ntries isready and able to assume all the
responsibilities of OECD membership andthereby to participate in
its network of disciplines;
- continue actively to implement the Declaration on
Co-operation
between theRussian Federation and OECD;
- continue to develop its dialogueand co-operation with
China
in the light of the Secretary-General'sforthcoming mission to
Beijing;
- maintain its intensifyingco-operation with other economies
in
transition i n Europe and Asia,including specific programmes and
special activities begun with some countriesin 1995;
- develop the successful dialogue with the DynamicNon-Member
Economies, including its recent expansion in some activitiesto
new participants; continue to co-operate with those Latin
Americancountries with which mutual interests exist;
- work toestablish a wider variety of relationships by means
of
a forum for dialoguewith emerging market economies; the
struct ure to promote this dialogue willfunction in accordance
with the principles, objectives and rules of theOECD;
- examine further, with the completion of the first phaseof
the
Organisation's Study on Linkages between OECD and Major
DevelopingEconomies, more specific aspects and impacts of such
linkages and theimplications on OECD Members' policy options in
thefuture.
Ministers call upon the OECD to establish clearpriorities
in its
work in order to make t he best use of availableresources. They
consider that the OECD is well equipped to face newchallenges.
The Organisation is characterised by a proven capacity forpolicy
analysis based on broadly-shared political, economic and social
views.It also has an ability to adapt its activities when new
needsarise.
Source: OECD Press Release. Copyright OECD 1995.Reproduced by
permission of the Organisation for Economic Co-operationand
Development.
All contents copyright © 1995-99. University of Toronto unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved.
