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The Government of Romania welcomes today the decision of the Council of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to open accession negotiations with Romania.

The launch of the OECD accession talks represents a special political-diplomatic success of our country, which also confirms Romania's high level of technical training. Through this decision, Romania is significantly close to attaining one of its strategic foreign policy objectives, unanimously shared and constantly assumed at the highest level of the state: obtaining OECD membership.

Romania particularly appreciates the efforts of the OECD Secretary-General, Mathias Cormann, and of the 38 member states to identify the consensus on enlargement and especially for the support given to Romania's candidacy.

OECD membership will strengthen Romania's international profile and provide access to the expertise of an international body valued for the quality of economic studies and public policy evaluations. It will also provide the opportunity to participate directly, along with other members, in establishing international regulations in the field of good economic governance.

The opening of the accession talks represents the culmination of the consistent efforts of the Romanian diplomacy and the entire institutional spectrum of the last decades, to bring Romania closer to the OECD standards and practices, globally recognized as a standard of good governance in developed economies.

 This success is the result of a close inter-institutional collaboration in which the relevant ministries and institutions have been involved over time, under the auspices, since 2016, of an Interministerial Committee, currently coordinated directly by the Prime Minister of Romania.

Today’s decision of the OECD Council is a recognition of the fact that Romania shares the values and principles of the Organization. At the same time, it is a testament to Romania's continued involvement in strengthening cooperation with the OECD and the added value that our country brings to the Organization.

The announcement marks the beginning of a period of deepening the partnership with the OECD. The negotiations stage will involve a rigorous evaluation of our country’s alignment to the instruments and good practices of the Organization, achieved by over 20 technical OECD committees based on a roadmap that will be drawn up over the next period.

This complex and intense stage will involve measures to be taken in a wide range of areas, in the spirit of OECD values and for the benefit of the well-being of its citizens. The accession process will boost the continuation of internal reforms and the improvement of policies in all fields of economic and social activity, with a focus on public governance, investment and taxation, sustainable development, environmental protection and climate action, public integrity and anti-corruption policies, education, digital transition.

The Romanian Government also takes this opportunity to reconfirm that its institutions are ready to cooperate actively with the working structures of the OECD to complete the stage of negotiations as soon as possible, on the road to the OECD accession.

Along with our country, the decision to open negotiations adopted today also referred to Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia and Peru.

Additional information:

Established in 1961, the OECD is an intergovernmental forum dedicated to identifying, disseminating and evaluating the implementation of appropriate public policies to ensure sustainable economic growth and social stability. The 38 OECD members (most of them Europeans - 23) are developed countries, accounting for more than 70% of global production and trade and 90% of global foreign direct investment.

Romania's accession to the OECD is a strategic foreign policy goal, which has got cross-party support from Romania's post-December governments. Our country officially submitted its candidacy for OECD membership in April 2004, which has been reiterated several times.