Background Reading: Meeting of the OECD Council at Ministerial Level

1. Essential Reading

2. Further Reading

3. General information about the OECD

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1. Essential Reading

A. Brochures

• Meeting of the OECD Council at Ministerial Level 2005 - Key information
  This brochure provides Ministers, senior officials, the media and the public with the latest information on OECD work pertaining to the issues that will be discussed during the Ministerial Meeting.

• Growth in Services Fostering Employment, Productivity and Innovation
  At its meeting in May 2003, the Ministerial Council asked the OECD to analyse the contribution made by the services sector to employment growth, productivity and innovation, and to identify factors, institutions and policies that could enhance the growth prospects of this sector. In response to this request, the OECD launched a cross-Directorate study. This report draws the main policy conclusions from the project. It complements the OECD report on Trade and Structural Adjustment, which provides policy directions on how OECD countries can adjust to international trade. Together, these reports present a concrete policy agenda on how to strengthen growth performance and address globalisation, structural change and the shift to services.
  

• Trade and Structural Adjustment
  An OECD study on trade and structural adjustment was developed from a Swedish proposal at the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting in 2003 and was launched as a horizontal project by the Council after deliberations in relevant substantive committees. The request from the Council called for a sector-focused and forward-looking analysis of trade and structural adjustment, supported by country-specific case studies. The goal was to complete the project in time for the MCM in 2005. The aim of the study is to identify, for both developed and developing countries, the requirements for successful trade-related structural adjustment by reallocating labour and capital to more efficient uses, while limiting adjustment costs for individuals, communities and society as a whole. Eight sectors have been chosen for particular attention: agriculture, fisheries, textiles and clothing, steel, shipbuilding, motor vehicles, health services and international sourcing of IT and business process services. (note: an error on page 5 has been corrected)

B. Documents Submitted to Ministers

• Trade Policy Message to Ministers form the Chair of the Trade Committee
  The message is an attempt to set out the key priorities of the Doha Development Agenda and the critically short timeframe within which they need to be resolved.
• Enabling Development
  OECD statement to the follow-up of the UN Millennium Declaration and Monterrey Consensus
• Making Poverty Reduction Work: OECD’s Role in Development Partnership
  This is the Executive Summary of OECD's contribution to the UN General Assembly Summit of 2005, as well as other international meetings related to development.
• Statement from the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC)
• Trade Union Statement to the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting (TUAC)
• Summary Report on the joint consultations between the Bureau of the Council Meeting at Ministerial Level and BIAC and TUAC

2. Further Reading

More information on the topics discussed during the meeting:

A. Implications of globalisation for the economic outlook

• Making globalisation work for all
  OECD Observer article by Göran Persson, Prime Minister of Sweden and Chair of the 2005 OECD Ministerial Council
• Statement by Donald J. Johnston, OECD Secretary-General, on "The Global Economy and Financial Markets - Outlook, Risks, and Policy Responses" and "IMF Support for Low-Income Members’ Efforts Towards Poverty Reduction and Strong Sustainable Growth", to the International Monetary and Financial Committee, Washington, 16 April 2005
• OECD work on the economic outlook
• OECD work on growth

B. Investing in energy

• The energy challenge
  OECD Observer article by Donald J. Johnston, Secretary-General of the OECD
• Energy policy - No silver bullet
  OECD Observer article by Claude Mandil, Executive Director, International Energy Agency
• Oil price developments: drivers, economic consequences and policy responses
  Chapter IV, OECD Economic Outlook No. 76; December 2004
• More OECD work on energy

C. Globalisation and structural adjustment

• Services - A sleeping giant?
  OECD Observer article by Dirk Pilat, OECD Science, Technology and Industry Directorate
• Exposing myths of globalisation
  OECD Observer article by Ken Heydon, Deputy Director, OECD Trade Directorate
• Jobs and globalisation - Promise or threat
  OECD Observer article by John Evans, General Secretary, Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC)
• The Service Economy in OECD Countries
  STI Working Paper 2005/3, OECD (2005).
• Trade and Structural Adjustment - FULL REPORT
  (the full report is summarised in the brochure above)
  Chapiter 1, Chapiter 2, Annex 1, Annex 2 and Annex 3
• The impact of structural policies on trade-related adjustment and the shift to services
  ECO Working Paper No. 427, OECD (2005).
• Product Market Regulation in OECD Countries, 1998 to 2003
  ECO Working Paper No. 419, OECD (2005).
• A New World Map in Textiles and Clothing: Adjusting to Change
• Trade Preference Erosion: Potential Economic Impacts
  OECD Trade Policy Working Paper No. 17
• Impact of Changes in Tariffs on Developing Countries' Government Revenue
  OECD Trade Policy Working Paper No. 18
• OECD Employment Outlook
  2004, 2002, 2001 Editions, OECD.
• Services Trade Liberalisation: Identifying Opportunities and Gains
  OECD Trade Policy Working Paper No.1, OECD (2004).
• The Application of Consumption Taxes to the Trade in International Services and Intangibles, OECD (2004) and the Progress report and draft principles, OECD (2005)
• OECD Information Technology Outlook, 2004 Edition, OECD.
• Enhancing the Performance of the Services Sector, OECD (forthcoming 2005).

D. Millennium Declaration and Monterrey Consensus

• Making Poverty Reduction Work: OECD’s Role in Development Partnership - FULL REPORT
  The OECD's contribution to the UN General Assembly Summit of 2005, as well as other international meetings related to development.
• OECD Initiative on Investment for Development: Progress Report
  Launched in support of the Monterrey Consensus, the OECD Initiative on Investment for Development supports developing countries' sustained efforts to attract and generate more and better investment. This progress report documents work to date on the Policy Framework for Investment, building policy capacity through peer learning and on using ODA more effectively to mobilise investment for development.
• Development aid - Getting it right
  OECD Observer article by Jagdish Bhagwati, University Professor at Columbia University and Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
• High Level Forum on Joint Progress toward Enhanced Aid Effectiveness (Harmonisation, Alignment, and Results) 
  Ministers, heads of aid agencies and other senior officials representing some 60 partner countries and over 50 multilateral and bilateral development institutions met to find ways of making aid even more effective.
• Statement by Mr. Richard Manning, Chairman of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) presented at the Joint Ministerial Committee of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank and the IMF on the Transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries
• OECD work on the Millennium Development Goals 
• OECD work on investment and development
• OECD work on development

E. Trade negotiations under the Doha Round

• Trade and Migration: Building Bridges for Global Labour Mobility 
  OECD, The World Bank, International Organisation for Migration (2004) 
• The Costs of Introducing and Implementing Trade Facilitation Measures
  OECD Trade Policy Working Paper No. 8
• Trade Facilitation Reforms in the Service of Development
  OECD Trade Policy Working Paper No. 12
• Managing Request-Offer Negotiations Under the GATS: the case of Legal Services
  OECD Trade Policy Working Paper No. 2
• Managing Request-Offer Negotiations Under the GATS: the case of Environmental Services
  OECD Trade Policy Working Paper No. 11
• Analysis of non-tariff barriers of concern to developing countries
  OECD Trade Policy Working Paper No. 16 (forthcoming)
• OECD work on trade
• OECD work on trade and agriculture

3. General information about the OECD

• OECD Annual Report - 2005
  The OECD has achieved much in the past 45 years with the help of the world’s political leaders – many of whose faces are on the cover of this book – but there are always new challenges, whether ageing populations or the sometimes painful adjustments to globalisation. This Annual Report looks at how the OECD is helping governments meet these challenges and deal with new issues as they arise.
  
  
• Getting to Grips with Globalisation - The OECD in a Changing World
  Globalisation brings both challenges and opportunities. Responding to them is a matter for governments as well as for citizens. This booklet sets in perspective many of the policy challenges which the OECD has addressed over the last few years, and indicates some of those to which it must now turn its attention.