Seeking Ecuador’s accession to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) would represent a strategic goal that allows us to effectively accelerate the comprehensive structural reform that our country needs.

A reform that requires highly credible and experienced advisory support to create the conditions for orderly economic growth and sustainable social well-being over time that overcome political opportunism.

Faced with the crisis of multilateralism and growing deglobalization, the OECD managed to reinvent its value proposition to member states; Its effectiveness is based on data collection and technical analysis to establish regulatory standards that countries integrate, both in their public policies and in their public governance, to build high-impact global transformations towards poverty reduction and smart prosperity. It is important to consider that current OECD members concentrate 75% of foreign direct investment and 80% of global trade.

Although our country shyly approached this organization through its Development Center and Regional Program for Latin America; Membership as an OECD member country requires a very rigorous accession process, where countries must harmonize their laws, policies and internal regulations with the organization’s governance. Demand levels are focused, for example, on a competitive and transparent tax system, strict control of public spending, redesign of the national statistics system, adjustments to labor legislation, reforms of the judicial system, the fight against bribery, as well as a national productivity policy with environmental protection and social inclusion standards, among others other topics. During the accession process, which can last up to five years, the country is subjected to in-depth examinations carried out by specialized committees, in order to create structural foundations aligned with the organization’s standards.

The OECD represents the “seal of quality” that a country needs to have credibility and confidence in financing agreements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the World Bank; as well as conclude bilateral trade agreements and foreign direct investment programs with member countries and the international community. Membership is determined according to the economic profile of each country, taking as reference its GDP and population. An investment that would give us the opportunity to get out of the vicious circle of reactionary politics and enter the virtuous circle of intelligent politics.

Aspiring to the OECD also means aspiring to a more decisive, assertive and practical foreign policy; to become an instrument that facilitates the implementation of structural reforms and for the national economy to integrate international standards and good practices, turning Ecuador into a competent, reliable and safe partner. (OR)