Ministers have concluded this week’s 2025 Council Meeting at Ministerial Level (MCM). Under the Chairmanship of Costa Rica, with Australia, Canada and Lithuania as Vice-Chairs, Ministers and high-level representatives met for discussions around the theme “Leading the Way towards Resilient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Prosperity through Rules-Based Trade, Investment and Innovation”.
Read the Statement of the Chair of the 2025 MCM.
The MCM is the OECD’s highest-level forum, attended by Ministers of Finance, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Trade and other high-level representatives from OECD Member and partner countries, as well as representatives of International Organisations.
This year’s MCM was opened by OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann, Costa Rican Minister of Foreign Trade Manuel Tovar, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Australian Minister of Trade and Tourism Don Farrell, Canadian Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu, and the Lithuanian Minister for Foreign Affairs Kęstutis Budrys.
During the two-day meeting, Ministers welcomed the approval of the OECD Strategic Framework for Latin America and the Caribbean and the launch of the Paraguay Country Programme, and adopted the following new or updated OECD legal instruments:
- Revised Recommendation of the Council on Merger Review
- Revised Recommendation of the Council on Digital Technologies and the Environment
Ministers also welcomed the adoption of the Recommendation of the Council on Eliminating Government Support to Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing as well as the Report on the Implementation of the Recommendation on Countering Illicit Trade: Enhancing Transparency in Free Trade Zones and noted:
- the Secretary-General’s Report to Ministers on OECD Global Relations;
- the Annual Update on OECD Standard-Setting;
- the Progress Report on the OECD Strategy on Development;
- Reports from the Inclusive Forum on Carbon Mitigation Approaches;
- the OECD AI Capability Indicators; and
- the Scoping Note for an AI Policy Toolkit to Support Economies in Realising AI Benefits.
Among key publications issued prior to the MCM for discussion were the OECD’s latest Economic Outlook and the OECD Supply Chain Resilience Review.
Supporting documents on meeting outcomes and key issues will be made available on the Ministerial Council Meeting website at http://www.oecd.org/mcm/. More detailed information on the OECD Recommendations can also be found in the Compendium of OECD Legal Instruments.
For further information, journalists can contact Elisabeth Schoeffmann in the OECD Media Office (+33 1 45 24 97 00).
Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to preserve individual liberty and improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.