2 weeks Ago By Amy Booth
Argentina’s Foreign Minister Diana Mondino and OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann confirmed that the Argentine government would complete the self-assessment stage of the process to join the organization by the end of 2024. During a press conference on Friday, Cormann said meetings to discuss Argentina’s invitation to join the organization this week were “constructive” — but cautioned that the years-long membership process would run past President Javier Milei’s current term in office. Cross-party political consensus will be required to make real progress, he said.
The self-assessment process involves sending a memorandum with an evaluation of how Argentina believes its policies and other actions stack up against the organization’s best practices. That evaluation would then pass through no fewer than 26 OECD committees, in what Cormann called an “extensive and technically rigorous” review process. The OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) is an international group of 38 mostly European and North American countries which is informally known as the global rich countries’ club.
Its headquarters are in Paris. Cormann cautioned Argentina not to expect change from one day to the next. “This is a process started by the government of President Milei, but it will take years,” he said.
“It’s a marathon, not a sprint. It will certainly transcend the mandate of one government alone. For its success, it will be necessary for broad political support for Argentina to become an OECD member.
” However, he claimed Argentines would not need to wait until the deal is sealed to start seeing change: the membership process entails the adoption of OECD best practices, meaning public policies are adapted over the course of years before a country becomes a member. Mondino said this would involve creating or abolishing laws and entities, while Cormann cited growth in foreign direct investment as one benefit of the membership process. Commitment, enthusiasm, determination “We want to strengthen Argentina’s inclusion on the world stage,” Mondino said.
“This is a tool that not only legitimizes us and deepens the political, economic, and cultural reforms necessary to do this, it also takes us toward a qualitative reform.” She added that OECD membership is a “priority objective for our country.” Cormann said he was impressed with Argentina’s “commitment, enthusiasm and determination in the context of the process.
” The secretary general has been in Buenos Aires this week, meeting with political parties, business leaders, academics, the CGT trade union federation, and a think tank. Ahead of the press conference, he met with seven provincial governors and two vice governors over a working lunch. Afterwards, Cormann was received in the Casa Rosada presidential palace by Milei and Mondino, as well as Interior Minister Guillermo Francos and Finance Secretary Pablo Quirno.
“Argentina is a country of great potential and has faced significant challenges in recent decades,” he said. “We think the process of joining the OECD can strengthen Argentina’s efforts to create a more stable and prosperous economy in the medium and long-term, to generate better income and a better economic situation for the Argentine population.” Successive Argentine governments have taken varied stances towards the OECD.
President Carlos Menem made overtures during the 1990s and Mauricio Macri’s government formally asked to join. The OECD council formally opened membership talks with Argentina in January 2022, during the Alberto Fernández presidency, along with Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Peru and Romania. But when the invitation letter arrived, the country didn’t respond for two years.
The day Milei was inaugurated on December 10, Mondino announced that Argentina was accepting an invitation to start the process of joining the organization. The government declared Argentina’s membership bid to be of national interest in July, creating an inter-ministerial commission to focus on the process..
