Check against delivery.
Estimado Ministro Pablo Quirno
Ministros,
Embajadores,
Colegas, Amigos de Argentina y de la OCDE (OGDE)
Muy buenas dias à todos
Following on from my visit last August to launch Argentina’s accession process to the OECD, I am delighted to be back in Buenos Aires on this very special occasion, to formally receive Argentina’s Initial Memorandum.
This Initial Memorandum is Argentina’s self-assessment in terms of the alignment of its legislation, policies and practices with OECD standards and best practices.
It marks the starting point for the technical accession reviews by OECD Committees.
Warm congratulations to Minister Quirno and the government of Argentina for reaching this significant milestone, demonstrating Argentina’s strong commitment to its process of accession to the OECD.
This follows the handover of Argentina’s Accession Roadmap at our OECD’s Ministerial Council Meeting last year.
The preparation of this self-assessment against all OECD legal instruments has benefitted from the inputs of Argentina’s line ministries and agencies and was co-ordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Thank you all for your efforts so far – and please keep it going through this next critical phase of Argentina’s process of accession to the OECD.
The 25 OECD committees involved in this process, composed of policy experts from each of the OECD’s 38 Member countries, will now engage in a close and co-operative technical dialogue with the Argentinian authorities and provide analysis and recommendations to support Argentina’s domestic reform priorities and alignment with OECD standards.
The key to the success of this process is the involvement and buy-in of all public and private stakeholders in Argentina and strong support and ownership from all ministries and government agencies.
Argentina’s engagement with the OECD started in 1982 with its adherence to the OECD Seeds Scheme. Adhering to that scheme facilitated Argentina’s participation in the international trade in high-quality certified seeds, by harmonising varietal certification standards, improving access to new markets and varieties and supporting sustainable agricultural development.
Since then, the OECD has supported a number of important reforms in Argentina, including amending the statistics law in line with the Recommendation on Good Statistical Practices to restore confidence in official statistics and the creation of the public registry of beneficial ownership to combat tax evasion and illicit financial flows.
Argentina now adheres to 57 OECD instruments across policy areas.
Most recently Argentina became a Party to the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting that Argentina’s Congress ratified on 7 May 2025.
Building on some of the specific areas of co-operation so far, the accession process to the OECD will now facilitate the comprehensive and systematic alignment of Argentina’s legislation, policies and practices with market-based, pro-growth international best practices.
Importantly, the OECD Accession Process complements Argentina’s ambitious economic reform agenda, helping to strengthen the foundations of growth over the medium to long term through structural reforms aligned with OECD standards and best practices.
It will be mutually beneficial, reinforcing international confidence in Argentina’s policy settings, helping to attract increased investment, driving stronger sustainable, sustained growth and increases in incomes and living standards – while enhancing the OECD’s engagement and our work together in international fora with a major G20 economy.
The stated commitment of Argentina to align with OECD standards – initially through the OECD Action Plan of the then government of Argentina in 2016 – and a recognition of Argentina’s commitment to reform led the OECD Council to open accession discussions with your country and subsequently adopt an Accession Roadmap to take the process forward.
Argentina has been making significant progress on its ambitious reform journey in recent years, with key reforms designed to enhance economic stability and growth:
- Curbing inflation through a strengthened monetary policy framework and enhanced central bank governance mechanisms,
- Enhancing fiscal management by enacting reforms to increase spending efficiency, and
- Lifting regulatory barriers to competition and investment, while liberalising trade.
These efforts will help Argentina draw on its extraordinary potential in sectors ranging from agriculture to clean energy to manufacturing through deeper integration in the global economy.
The technical accession discussions will support and help anchor the ambitious and wide-ranging reform journey that Argentina country has embarked on.
Including a sustained improvement in macroeconomic stability, a further lowering of inflation and rebuilding fiscal space, including through our structural reform recommendations laid out in the 2025 OECD Economic Survey of Argentina launched in July.
The OECD Accession process can help support reform momentum now and anchor the structural reform agenda also over the medium to long term to both continue to stabilise and strengthen the growth outlook, by leveraging OECD standards and best practices and placing reforms on a sustainable, internationally recognised footing.
It includes further enhancing investor confidence and attracting new trade and investment opportunities, also by leveraging OECD expertise on investment liberalisation, regulatory effectiveness, trade facilitation measures and competition enforcement.
And it includes boosting public sector efficiency and integrity, as well as promoting evidence-based policymaking, by improving alignment with OECD’s international standards of policy best practice on public governance and integrity.
Ultimately, these efforts will lay the foundations for further international recognition of your reform progress, which in turn will help driver stronger investment, development, stability, growth and prosperity moving forward.
The OECD will in turn benefit from your unique policy experience and perspectives, recognising Argentina’s important role in promoting effective solutions to shared global challenges.
We will be a stronger, better and more diverse OECD with Argentina as a Member.
Our Members and countries across Latin America and the Caribbean have a great deal to gain from stronger policy co-operation and engagement with Argentina.
As a G20 economy and Latin America’s third largest economy, and one of its largest democracies, Argentina is a key player in regional and global co-operation.
Once again, congratulations on this important milestone. We look forward to continuing this journey with you.
Muchas gracias.
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.