OECD countries agreed today to invite Estonia, Israel and Slovenia to become members of the organisation, paving the way for the Organisation’s membership to grow to 34 countries.
During nearly three years of accession negotiations, the three countries were reviewed by 18 OECD committees with respect to their compliance with OECD standards and benchmarks.
Estonia, Israel and Slovenia were invited to open accession talks in 2007, along with Chile and the Russian Federation. Chile became an OECD member earlier this year and membership talks with Russia are progressing.
Tthe OECD said in a statement today that it is also strengthening its relationships with a number of emerging economnies including Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) area now covers a total of 34 countries including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States.