Indonesia joins the Development Centre

Indonesia has become the 34th member of the OECD’s Development Centre. Announcing the arrival of Indonesia on the Centre’s Board, Director and Chief Development Economist Javier Santiso said, “Indonesia is a very important G20 country, both in terms of the size of its population and economically. It’s development experience and its capacity to influence the economic development of Southeast Asia make it a valuable addition to the Board of the Development Centre”. Indonesia has ben part of the OECD's Enhanced Engagement Coutry Program since 2007.

Asian countries have been represented at the Development Centre since 2001, when India  became a member; it was joined in 2005 by Thailand and in 2008 by Viet Nam. Korea, an OECD country, is also a member. The Centre is unusual in the OECD in that it can accept both non-OECD countries on its Board alongside member countries of the Organisation.

The Development Centre was established to act as a channel of communication and knowledge transfer between the generally industrialised countries of the OECD and the developing world. It publishes the highly successful African and Latin American “Economic Outlooks”, as well as a series of studies and documents on development policy. In the course of 2009, the Centre will expand its Asia Desk to reinforce work on Southeast Asia, the Black Sea and Central Asian regions. The arrival of Indonesia as the eleventh emerging-economy member of the Centre’s Board will reinforce the Centre's activities in the most populous region of the globe.