The OECD Ministerial meeting in Paris has called for a new WTO trade round to be launched as soon as possible, endorsed updated Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and addressed the appropriate regulatory structures in the areas of biotechnology and food safety.
Ministers noted that the OECD area is growing at its fastest pace since 1988. But this growth performance is mixed between countries, with some performing significantly better than others.
The final communique of the OECD Ministerial Meeting identified Australia, along with the United Sates, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Norway, as the better performing economies in the OECD area. These economies had achieved rising per capita GDP growth in the 1990s compared with the 1980s and had been relatively successful in increasing employment growth over this period.
The OECD Ministerial Council endorsed the need for continued work to better understand the strong economic performance of these countries and to assess to what extent this performance represented a "new economy" based on increasing innovation, knowledge and information and communications technologies.
The recognition by the Ministers of the exceptional performance of the Australian economy follows the release of the first report of the OECDs Growth Project, "Is There a New Economy?"
Ministers also assessed how policy should respond to an increasingly knowledge-based and interdependent world. Key issues identified were: the need for strong and consistent economic reform programs; good governance and transparency; flexible competitive markets; and sound macroeconomic policies.
A major outcome from the meeting was the adoption of updated OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. These OECD guidelines provide a robust set of recommendations which will improve the international investment climate and encourage the positive contributions multinational enterprises can make to economic, social and environmental issues.
Ministers also endorsed the importance of moving on from Seattle and proceeding with a new WTO trade round as soon as possible. Trade liberalisation would help realise the promise of the "new economy" and be beneficial to both developed and developing economies.
Another key topic considered at the Ministerial meeting was the appropriate regulatory structures for biotechnology and food safety. Ministers also reconfirmed the OECD work on eliminating harmful tax practices and confirmed that the OECD should play a lead role in addressing tax policy and administration issues posed by electronic commerce, along with its efforts in combating bribery and corruption.