Other Major Organisations with which the OECD co-operates

African Development Bank

The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the OECD have intensified their co-operation over the last decade, in particular in the framework of the OECD Development Cluster and regionally focussed activities in Africa in the context of NEPAD.

The AfDB regularly participates in major OECD development events, activities and publications. The jointly published AfDB-OECD African Economic Outlook (AEO) is a good example of successful co-operation between the AfDB and the OECD Development Centre. Combining the expertise of both organisations, the AEO provides comprehensive and comparable data and analysis of 30 African economies.

Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation

As the Asian-Pacific countries become major players in the global economy, OECD has strengthened its co-operation with APEC economies. Seven of the 21 APEC members are also member of the OECD. The two organisations share the same values, pursue similar objectives, and make agreements on the basis of consensus.

OECD and APEC co-operate in the framework of joint conferences, seminars and Global Forums on topics such as international investment, security issues, digital economy, taxation, regulatory reform, trade facilitation, corporate governance, and developing small and medium-sized enterprises. OECD Secretary-General Donald Johnston presented a “Common APEC/OECD Agenda” at the APEC-OECD Investment Opportunities meeting in Korea in November 2005.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

The Food Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the OECD share policy expertise in the areas of agricultural policies, agriculture and fisheries, market liberalisation, sustainable development, agri-environmental indicators, biotechnology in the agro-food sector, food safety and poverty reduction.

Within the OECD, the FAO mainly co-operates with the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), the Agriculture in Emerging and Transition Economies Division of the OECD Directorate for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries and the Agriculture Unit of the Sahel and West Africa Club. Non-member policy reviews are closely co-ordinated to maximise complementary and to avoid duplication. The FAO participates as an observer in the OECD Committee for Agriculture (COAG) and various OECD Agriculture Schemes and Working Parties.

International Labour Organization

Co-operation with International Labour Organization (ILO) has traditionally taken place mainly with the OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, as they both aim to promote social justice and internationally recognised human and labour rights.

While the ILO formulates international labour standards in the form of Conventions and Recommendations setting minimum standards of basic labour rights, the OECD’s Non-Members and International Migration Division reviews labour market and social policies in selected non-member economies, including Eastern/Central European economies, Brazil, China and Chile.

The ILO has regularly contributed to OECD’s labour related publications and facilitated the organisation of events such as the 2nd OECD Ministerial Meeting on Small and Medium Enterprise in Istanbul. ILO also participates as observer in OECD’s Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee (ELSA) and in the Working Parties on Migration, Social Policy, Statistics and the Role of Women in the Economy.

International Monetary Fund

The OECD co-operates with the International Monetary Fund mainly on policy areas such as financial regulations, international investment, fiscal affairs and tax issues. For example, the International Tax Dialogue, a collaborative arrangement involving the IDB, IMF, OECD, UN and the World Bank, aims to encourage and facilitate discussion of tax matters among national tax officials, international organisations and other stakeholders.

Moreover, the IMF has been an important partner for OECD’s work on financial regulations and market efficiency, in particular in European transition economies. Co-operation and information-sharing between OECD and IMF is facilitated through IMF’s strong participation in formal OECD bodies. The IMF takes part as a full member in the Working Party on Aid Effectiveness and Donor Practices of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) and participates as an observer in more than 30 OECD bodies.

United Nations Development Programme

UNDP has been a major partner in the OECD initiative on “Policy Coherence for Development” that explores ways to ensure that government policies are mutually supportive of the countries' development goals. UNDP has collaborated closely in a research project supporting this OECD initiative by conducting a regional case study on the policies of OECD countries and their impact on Asian developing economies. UNDP also actively co-operates in OECD’s regional anti-corruption initiatives.

These include analytical peer review processes that assess gaps in domestic anti-bribery legislation and practice and that identify technical assistance needs. Moreover, UNDP participates as observer in various networks and working parties of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC).

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) is an important partner for OECD’s regionally focused activities in Africa. The UNECA/OECD-DAC Mutual Review of Development Effectiveness in the context of NEPAD monitors performance and identifies good practice among African countries as regards governance and capacity building, and among OECD countries as regards ODA supply, aid effectiveness and policy coherence.

UNECA also facilitates the organisation of regional events in Africa and participates in OECD conferences and roundtables on Africa’s development challenges. UNECA shares information and local knowledge with the African Economic Outlook team of the OECD Development Centre and the African Development Bank, the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), the Sahel and West Africa Club and will co-operate with OECD’s newly established Africa Partnership Forum Support Unit. UNECA is a full member of the DAC Network on Governance.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

A solid co-operation has been built with UNESCO over years through joint projects like the World Education Indicators (WEI) programme, the Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century Consortium (Paris21), several policy reviews of early childhood education and care policy in non-member economies (Indonesia, Kenya, Brazil and China), jointly established guidelines on the quality in the provision of cross-border education and co-operation on gender issues.

UNESCO supports the work of OECD’s Directorate for Education (EDU), in particular the Division on Non-Member Economies, by actively contributing to various EDU activities, regional events and the OECD Global Forum on Education. UNESCO also participates as an observer in the OECD Working Party of National Experts on Sciences and Technology Indicators (NESTI).

World Trade Organization

The OECD’s programme of work in the trade area often included issues that will be negotiated in future in the WTO or that are too contentious to be analysed there. Some examples of this are work on tariffs, non-tariff barriers, special and differential treatment, trade, debt, and finance and structural adjustment.

In some instances, OECD’s policy dialogue and expert meetings directly feed into WTO negotiations. In the area of trade capacity building, OECD and WTO jointly established the Doha Development Agenda Trade Capacity Building Database (TCBDB) in November 2002.

The 2005 joint WTO/OECD Report on Trade-related Technical Assistance and Capacity Building identifies main trends in technical assistance and capacity building programmes and analyses their effectiveness. The WTO participates as observer in various OECD Committees (agriculture, competition, economic and development review, environment policy, investment and trade) and many trade-related Working Parties.