The two volumes dedicated to Romania’s accession process to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) represent an opportunity to highlight the added value of the OECD, „this third major strategic objective” of our country following accession to the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union, national coordinator for Romania’s accession to the OECD Luca Niculescu pointed out on Thursday.

He sent a video message on the occasion of the launch of a new work from the Documentary Notebooks Series, titled „Romania in the OECD,” dedicated to the accession process to the international organisation.

„I am at one of the OECD hearings, one of the many examinations we have to pass this autumn, to maintain a sustained pace of the process, so that we can join the OECD as we have proposed. This first volume represents the most comprehensive documentation I have ever read about what the OECD means. The second volume, a selection of AGERPRES information about the OECD over the last quarter-century, is an opportunity to see publicly how our accession process was reflected, even before the first application for membership was submitted, 20 years ago. The two volumes also highlight the added value of the OECD, this third major strategic objective of Romania, after joining NATO and the EU. They review the complexity of the accession process, its benefits, from increasing investments, improving the quality of governance, engaging in dialogue on common interests with developed democratic states around the world, the possibility to participate in the formulation of policies and global standards, and much more,” pointed out Luca Niculescu.

Club Romania Publishing launched on Thursday, at the Central University Library „Carol I,” the ninth volume of the Documentary Notebooks Series, titled „Romania in the OECD.”

According to Luca Niculescu, the volume includes interesting testimonies, such as that of the organisation’s Secretary-General about the role of the OECD today, and those of representatives from states that have joined the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in recent years.

„Better policies for better lives – this is the organisation’s motto and it is exactly what these authors explain in their texts, discussing how they have applied OECD recommendations to develop and improve the lives of their citizens. This is what it will be about in Romania, how to live better. This is what joining the OECD will bring us. We still have some way to go until accession, and we hope it will be as short as possible. This journey is well marked, and if we stick to the exam schedule, and if we come well-prepared, as we have in the exams we’ve passed so far, we have every chance to join the OECD, as we have proposed,” emphasised Luca Niculescu.

Among others, the event was attended by Minister of Education Ligia Deca, academician Daniel Daianu, and former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase.

The work „Romania in the OECD,” coordinated by Marius Stoian, Ramona Jurubita, and Radu Puchiu, addresses both the public and private sectors, being a complex resource of information that traces the history and transformation of the organisation’s vision over time.

Mathias Cormann, the organisation’s Secretary-General, says in his contribution to the volume that the main mission of the OECD is to support better policies for better lives. We provide evidence, best policy practices, and global standards in almost all areas of economic policy-making, based on our commitment to individual freedom, democratic values, the rule of law, human rights protection, and market-based economic principles, highlights Mathias Cormann.

From a national perspective, Romania’s accession to the OECD represents the most important foreign policy objective after joining NATO and the European Union, and the process for obtaining membership status is embraced at the political and public administration levels as a national project with transformative effects on Romanian society.

AGERPRES