Chile first South American country to join OECD - Summary

Mon, 11 Jan 2010

Paris/Santiago- Chile became the first South American member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Monday as the body's leader Angel Gurria and Chilean Finance Minister Andres Velasco signed an accession agreement. "Chile's acceptance for OECD membership marks international recognition of nearly two decades of democratic reform and sound economic policies," the OECD said in a statement.

"Chile has been engaged in a continuous effort to reform its economy. This experience will be an asset for the OECD as we try to address issues such as inequality or sustainable pension systems," Gurria said during the signing ceremony in the Chilean capital Santiago.

Formally, accession was still pending the approval of the Chilean Congress.

At the ceremony in the presidential palace, La Moneda, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said joining the OECD will bring Chile "more jobs, but also better-quality and better-paid jobs."

"This points in the direction of a better country, better living standards and better welfare for each one of our people," Bachelet said.

Chile is the OECD's 31st member. The only other Latin American member is Mexico.

Four other countries - Estonia, Israel, the Russian Federation and Slovenia - are currently negotiating to become members, the OECD said.

In the past two decades, the South American country went from being one of the poorest in the region to one of the richest in terms of per capita income. However, it still shows worrying levels of inequality.

Despite having 13.7 per cent of its 16.5 million people under the poverty line, Chile has a per capita gross domestic product (GDP) that is similar to that of Portugal, South Korea or Turkey in 2000.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/303187,chile-first-south-american-country-to-join-oecd--summary.html.