General information. It was created in 1961. Headquarter is located in Paris. Currently, the Secretary-General of the Organization is Mathias Cormann.
Member States. It consists of 38 countries (Australia, Canada, Columbia, Costa Rica, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Türkiye, US and most EU countries).
Objectives. The main objectives of organization are contributions to world economic development by facilitating sustainable economic growth, employment and living conditions provided by maintaining financial stability in member states.
Cooperation with Azerbaijan. 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. The initiative is in partnership with the EU4Business Initiative and covers 6 countries (Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Armenia).
Cooperation with the European Union and the OECD is being carried out within the framework of the "Green Economy" project in the Eastern Partnership countries.
Regular participation by representatives of the Ministry of Economy is ensured in OECD event "Eurasia Week", which is held every year in Paris. Presentations are made by Azerbaijan at the Business Forum and meetings of the Board of Directors within the Eurasia Week. A delegation from the Ministry of Economy participated in the event held on November 19-21, 2018. The next event is planned to be held in Tbilisi.
Peer Reviews on various topics for member states within the framework of the Eurasian Competitiveness Program are conducted by the OECD. It was agreed to carry out a peer review for Azerbaijan on "Supporting reforms and economic diversification in increasing Competitiveness of SMEs in Azerbaijan" and the peer review was presented during the Eurasian Week on November 19-21, 2018.
The final reports entitled "Accelerating diversification through strengthening entrepreneurship in Azerbaijan" and "Linking domestic suppliers with foreign investors: A study of the food processing situation" were presented by the Azerbaijani delegation at the Eurasia Week in Paris on 19 November 2018.
On May 5, 2020, a video conference was held between Deputy Minister of Economy Rovshan Najaf and Head of the Eurasia Division of the OECD William Tompson. The existing cooperation between the organization and our country, as well as possible ways of OECD participation in the urgent measures to be taken in Azerbaijan to implement a new model of economic growth in the post-pandemic period was discussed at the video conference.
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" with participants from the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Agency for Public Services and Social Innovations, OECD and its member countries, EU, UNIDO, UNECE, the World Bank, International Trade Center (ITC), the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (Employers’) Organizations of Azerbaijan and about 100 representatives from the private sector. Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov and the Head of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan, Ambassador Kestutis Jankauskas made opening remarks at the event.
On February 12, 2021, a video conference was held between Deputy Minister of Economy Rovshan Najaf and Head of the Eurasia Division of the OECD William Tompson. The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss the project proposed by the OECD on "Promoting SME digitalisation in Azerbaijan". The major aim of the project is to promote the use of these technologies among SMEs’. The Working Group meetings were held on June 10 and October 21 2021 in a virtual format within the framework of the Project.
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, 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 April 26, 2022, Mikayil Jabbarov, Minister of Economy, received the OECD delegation led by William Thompson, Head of the Eurasia Division of the OECD, who visited our country to participate in the above-mentioned event.
OECD delegation visited Azerbaijan on November 15-17, 2022 in order to kick-off the next round assessment of the SME Policy Index. On November 17, OECD and Ministry of Economy held the dedicated event with participation of several state authorities.
