Opening speech given by OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann on the occasion of the 2026 OECD Ministerial Council Meeting in Paris, France.
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To our Chair, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo of Finland;
Prime Minister Luis Arroyo Sánchez of Peru;
President Guy Parmelin of Switzerland;
Ministers, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, colleagues, friends all,
A very warm welcome to this 2026 OECD Ministerial Council Meeting on Getting Industrial Policies Right for Open Markets, Growth and Prosperity.
This morning, we released the OECD Economic Outlook.
The global economy is under pressure.
The Middle East conflict has disrupted energy and commodity markets.
Growth is down. Inflation is up.
Fertiliser prices such as urea have risen sharply, with implications for food prices and food security.
Financial market volatility has risen.
Supply chains are being tested again.
And all this comes on top of deeper pre-existing structural challenges.
Productivity growth that has been too low for too long.
A fracturing of the global rules-based trading order.
Inequalities of opportunity fuelling political polarisation.
Population ageing weighing on growth and pressuring public finances.
And digital and climate transitions requiring investment at a scale and speed governments have yet to match.
Each of these structural challenges has an industrial policy dimension.
Each requires governments to make hard choices about what to do, what not to do, who to work with and how to work better together.
Which is exactly what we are here today and tomorrow to address.
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Governments everywhere are rethinking their role in the economy.
The pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in health, economic and societal structures and in global supply chains.
The global race for leadership in AI, semiconductors, and quantum is intensifying.
The pressure to secure reliable, affordable, clean energy is mounting and the window to get it right is closing fast.
And citizens are demanding that growth delivers tangible benefits in their own lives — not just in aggregate across the economy.
It is against this backdrop that industrial policy is back — and it is back with force.
The question is not whether governments should act, and they are acting.
The question is how to act — and how to act wisely.
Because the evidence of history is clear.
Industrial policy can help unlock stronger growth, more innovation, and increased resilience.
But it can also distort markets, crowd out private investment, stifle innovation, undermine fiscal sustainability, and trigger costly trade conflicts — undermining growth and living standards over time.
The difference between success and failure lies in how well industrial policy is designed — and even more importantly, how well it is implemented.
Well-functioning markets and open, rules-based trade remain the most effective foundation for industrial success.
Good industrial policy works with the market — not against the market.
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And the conversation that we are having over the next two days is also taking place against the backdrop of widening global economic imbalances.
With persistent surpluses in some economies and chronic deficits in others.
The cost of leaving them unaddressed is rising.
But, both surplus and deficit countries have real adjustments to make.
Deficit countries must save more and spend less.
Surplus countries must consume more and export less.
And some deficit economies face an additional, urgent challenge: closing a competitiveness and productivity gap that has been allowed to widen for too long.
Co-ordinated dialogue is not optional.
Without it, the pressure will continue to build — and the risk of disorderly adjustment, with all the damage that brings to global stability and growth, grows with it.
It means, for surplus economies, more than shifting from investment and exports to consumption.
It means moving away from market-distorting subsidies toward more market-based approaches — the kind that generate durable, efficient growth rather than dependencies that are hard to unwind.
In this context, this week we released our OECD MAGIC database — a unique tool to track industrial subsidies globally at the firm level — shedding light on their distortive potential.
It covers 15 sectors and 525 companies and it shows that:
Industrial subsidies are widespread across sectors and regions.
That most are modest relative to firm revenue, but significant in terms of profit margin.
This is particularly the case in heavy industries and strategic sectors.
And one pattern stands out: firms based in China receive substantially larger support than firms in OECD countries, primarily through belowmarket borrowing from state-controlled banks.
Such policies have contributed to the widening of unsustainable global trade imbalances.
They have also enabled China to accumulate powerful positions across key industrial supply chains.
Concentration of supply in strategically critical sectors now represents a systemic risk to the resilience of the global economy.
Having access to this data makes honest, evidence-based conversations possible.
The findings and implications make them necessary.
The OECD is available as a platform to facilitate this dialogue — in support of bilateral and plurilateral conversations.
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So What Does Good Industrial Policy Deliver?
It starts with productivity.
The single most important thing any government can do for its industrial base is support broad-based, stronger productivity growth.
Cutting red tape.
Investing in skills.
Funding research and innovation.
Promoting gender equality as a participation and productivityenhancing measure.
Building world-class infrastructure.
And addressing the digital and energy transitions — not as a cost to be managed, but as a necessary investment to secure international industrial competitiveness into the future.
But good industrial policy also requires something no country can provide alone.
It requires partners.
Supply chain resilience, technology leadership in AI and beyond, critical minerals security, the clean energy transition — none of these can be achieved by any one country unilaterally and on their own.
And what a powerful coalition of partners is gathered here today.
Our discussions will not only shape outcomes within our own borders.
They will also have an impact on emerging and developing economies that rely on continued access to open markets and clear, predictable rules.
That is also why it is so important we get the balance right — with industrial policies that support global development and growth, and that preserve and enhance opportunities for people all around the world to participate in and benefit from that development and growth.
Over the next two days, you will address the defining policy challenge of this moment: how to use industrial policy to strengthen your economies — while remaining true to the open markets and rulesbased trading system that have been the cornerstone of economic strength over the last several decades.
We should approach these discussions with pragmatism.
Progress in any multilateral setting requires a commitment to listen to each other, to communicate and to engage — and yes, when necessary, to find compromise.
The ability to find common ground — even on difficult issues, even with partners you sometimes disagree with — is not weakness, it is strength.
It is the noble art of statecraft.
And it is the only way to get things done.
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Ministers, colleagues, friends, this MCM also marks the formal start of my second and final term as your Secretary-General.
It is a profound honour to have been entrusted by our Members to continue to lead this organisation.
Over the past five years, together, we have strengthened this organisation.
A sharper analytical edge on AI, economic security, fiscal sustainability, the green transition and inclusive growth, a record eight accession candidate countries — and a more transparent, efficient, fit-forpurpose organisation.
Your priorities will guide us in the period ahead:
Reinvigorating productivity and competitiveness for broad-based growth;
Making global trading arrangements fairer and more resilient in a way that preserves the benefits of open markets and rules-based global trade;
Reinforcing leadership on digital transformation and AI governance;
Informing climate policy best practice;
Advancing strategic enlargement and global impact; and
Continuing to modernise how this organisation operates.
These are not abstract aspirations.
They are commitments — backed by the resources, the data, the deep expertise and institutional credibility this organisation has built over 65 years.
In Conclusion
Getting industrial policy right is not simply a technical challenge.
It is a test of whether the open, market-based model of development and growth — built by our Member nations through 65 years of successful co-operation — can adapt and prevail in a more contested, fragmented world.
Above all, it is a test of whether we can demonstrate to our citizens that this model can still deliver the economic security and the opportunities to get ahead.
I believe it can.
But only if we choose to make it happen.
Only if we defend the values that underpin it — open markets, rulesbased trade, democratic governance — not as inherited assumptions, but as active, daily commitments we are empowered by the people we serve to defend and advance.
Excellencies, colleagues and friends — let's get to work.
But first, very much looking forward to hearing from our Chair, the Prime Minister of Finland.
The floor is yours.
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