Four more African and Latin American countries join the Development Centre

Mauritius, Morocco, Costa Rica and Peru have become members of the Development Centre. Their engagement confirms the Centre’s role as a unique forum where OECD and emerging economies come together to share their experience of economic and social development. The Development Centre's Governing Board consists of 38 countries, of which 23 are OECD members, plus the European Commission.

 Costa Rica

President Oscar Arias, in his letter to the OECD SG accepting the invitation, said that “For a small open economy like Costa Rica, becoming a full participant in the OECD Development Centre is an extraordinary honour. It is also a tremendous opportunity to complement national policies aimed at strengthening our growth capacity and reaching significant levels of social and economic development. Costa Rica looks forward to sharing its own experiences and information with other participants, and leaning from these exchanges as well.”

 Mauritius

Mauritius’ Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr. Rama Sithanen, thanked the SG “for setting the stage for Mauritius to partner with the OECD Development Centre and its membership”. He reiterated Mauritius’ commitment “to play our role as an international citizen and to contribute to the extent we can to make the work of the Centre useful to the international community”.

 Peru

Peru’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. José Antonio García Belaúnde, told the SG that “Peru looks forward to sharing experience and information with other participants and to benefiting from such exchanges, which I am sure will provide the opportunity to find innovative solutions to the global challenges of development and poverty alleviation in my country.”

  Morocco

Present at the 30 March meeting of the Centre’s Governing Board, during which he led a discussion of Morocco’s response to the global economic crisis, Mr. Nizar Baraka (Minister for Economic and General Affairs in the Office of the Prime Minister), expressed on behalf of the Government of Morocco his particular pleasure at the Morocco’s membership. This membership will, he said, provide Morocco with a valuable opportunity to learn from the experiences of the other members and to participate in discussions on how to advance global development. The work of the Moroccan government to advance reforms would be substantially strengthened as result.

Please contact John Simpson for further information.