The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

Name of the organization

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

General information about the organization

·  Establishment date: 1961.

·  Objectives: contribute to world economic development by facilitating sustainable economic growth, employment and living conditions provided by maintaining financial stability in member states.

·  Secretary General: Mathias Cormann (Since 01.06.2021).

·  Headquarters: Paris, France.

·  Member countries: 38 countries (Australia, Canada, Columbia, Costa Rica, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Turkey, US and most EU countries).

Information about cooperation between Azerbaijan and the organization

·  Azerbaijan is not  a member to OECD. Azerbaijan's cooperation with the organization has been active since 2009 within the framework of the OECD Eastern Europe and South Caucasus Initiative, which is part of the OECD's Eurasian Competitiveness Program.

·  Peer-review reports prepared together with Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan: "Supporting reforms and economic diversification in increasing Competitiveness of SMEs in Azerbaijan", "Accelerating diversification through strengthening entrepreneurship in Azerbaijan", "Linking domestic suppliers with foreign investors: A study of the food processing situation" and "Promoting Enterprise Digitalisation in Azerbaijan".

·   Events:

-   On December 1st, 2020, the Ministry of Economy and the OECD jointly organized a webinar on "Supporting the recovery process in Azerbaijan, promoting the development and digitization of SMEs". Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov and the Head of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan, Ambassador Kestutis Jankauskas made opening remarks at the event.

-  On November 23, 2021 OECD and Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan convened webinar on “Peer review of Azerbaijan: SME Digital Transformation to Enhance Competitiveness”. Deputy Minister of Economy Rovshan Najaf and Head of Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Azerbaijan Peter Michalko delivered opening remarks.

-   On November 30, 2021, OECD held the webinar dedicated to the launch of the OECD publication “Beyond COVID-19 - Advancing digital business transformation in the Eastern Partner countries”. During the webinar, Deputy Minister of Economy Rovshan Najaf participated at the roundtable dedicated to the Eastern Partner countries and informed the attendees on policy initiatives and steps undertaken geared at promoting SME digitalisation in Azerbaijan.

- OECD Eurasia Competitiveness Programme Steering Committees Meeting for the Central Asia Initiative and the Eastern Europe/South Caucasus Initiative was held on 6 December 2021. Ministry of Economy was represented at the Steering Committees Meeting by Inara Mustafayeva, Acting Head of Department on Cooperation with International Organizations, who delivered a speech at the event. She informed the attendees about the current cooperation between the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan and OECD, as well as on upcoming joint collaborations.

- The OECD and the Ministry of Economy jointly organized an event on "Promoting Enterprise Digitalisation in Azerbaijan" in hybrid format on April 27, 2022, in Baku.

- On November 17, 2022, OECD and Ministry of Economy held the event dedicated to the kick-off of SME Policy Index next round assessment.