09
JUNE 2006
BRIEFING
DOCUMENT ON THE ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT (OECD) TO
THE PORFOLIO COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION BY THE DEPARTMENT
OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
1. Background on OECD
The OECD's
"fundamental mission is to enable Members to consult and co-operate with
each other so as to achieve the highest possible sustainable economic growth,
improve the economic and social well-being of their populations, and contribute
to development worldwide". In order to fulfil this mission the OECD
provides its members with a forum for discussion and consultation to exchange
information and experiences and compare points of view. Its decisions are taken
on the basis of consensus, and in principle all areas of government action with
the exception of defence lie in the scope of the organisation's activities.
The strength of the OECD lies in its data-collecting
capacities, which permits the drawing of international comparisons, analyses
and the forecasting functions for which the organisation has become known. One
of the key weakness of the organisation is that in its outreach to developing
countries, there is little scope for direct influence as they are not founding
members of its principles.
Council - the highest decision-making body of the organisation which meets on
Ministerial level every spring.
Secretary General and Secretariat of the OECD - the Secretariat is composed
of a General Secretariat, and of some 10 Directorates covering areas such as
Economics; Environment; Development Cooperation; Trade; Financial, Fiscal and
Enterprise Affairs; Science, Technology and Industry; Education, Employment,
Labour and Social Affairs; Food, Agriculture and Fisheries.
The Directorates service the Committees of the OECD, which number
close to 200, and are composed of the representatives of Member states. It is
at the Committee level that experts
or permanent delegates to the OECD of the member states discuss the various
reports and issues put on the table by the Secretariat and take appropriate
decisions.
Finally the OECD also has a
number of semi-autonomous bodies,
among these the International Energy Agency, the Nuclear Energy Agency the
Development Centre, and the Club du Sahel.
Extensive information on the
structures and activities of the OECD can also be found on their website: http://www.oecd.org
3. South Africa’s Relations with the OECD
Over the past few years there
has been a steady increase in the level of interaction between members of our
government departments and the OECD, which reflects a growing interest from our
part in tapping into the organisation's wide range of expertise and
information. These interactions represent, by and large, "informal relationships".
Informal relationships
consist of participation in workshops and seminars organised by the OECD in
which members and non-member countries interact, or meetings arranged by the
Embassy for visitors from South Africa with staff from particular Directorates
of the OECD Secretariat. The Embassy also transmits publications of the OECD to
government departments on a regular basis and by request.
"Formal relationships", which imply that South Africa has entered into a
contractual relationship with a structure of the OECD such as a Committee, scheme
or working party are still somewhat limited. They are concluded on a strict
application and approval basis between non-member states and the OECD, and are
based on the criteria of the non-member being a major player in the area
concerned, as well as a perceived mutual benefit for the non-member and the
OECD.
The February 2005 Cabinet
Decisions which provide the policy context for South-Africa OECD relations
within the context of the North-South Dialogue are as follows:
§
South Africa is to take an incremental approach moving closer to the
OECD
§
South Africa, through the Department of Foreign Affairs is to
immediately join the Development Center of the OECD
§
National Departments should undertake to explore the viability of OECD
engagements in their area of scope and participate in the relevant processes
§
The location of the OECD portfolio will be under the National Treasury
§
A possible high-level fact finding mission to the OECD was noted by
Cabinet
3.2 The Development Centre:
http://www.oecd.org/dev/cendev/
The Development Centre of the
OECD is one of the semi-autonomous bodies of the organisation, with its own
membership, personnel and activities. Established in 1962, its purpose is
"to bring together the knowledge and experience available in Member
countries of both economic development and the formulation and execution of
general economic policies; to adapt such knowledge and experience to the actual
needs of countries or regions in the process of development and to put the
results at the disposal of the countries by appropriate means".
To accomplish this purpose, the
Development Centre engages in extensive research and policy dialogue on issues
of global, regional and local importance to developing countries. In 1997 the
Centre published a report "The World in 2020: Towards a New Global
Age", which examines the linkages between developing and industrialising
economies and presents two scenarios over the next 25 years. The Centre
publishes extensively on a number of important subjects and most of its
publications are available to the public.
The Development Centre has opened its membership to
non-member countries. South Africa has joined the Centre and has officially
been a member since 21 April 2006.
The
Development Centre (DC) is an interface between OECD Member countries and the
emerging and developing economies of Africa, Asia and Latin America. The Centre’s work complements that of the
overall OECD Development Cluster and the other committees of the
organization. African economies are the
object of special attention. Membership
of the Development Centre therefore provides a greater role for the country in
monitoring and guiding the OECD contribution to the aims of the NEPAD.