Chile at the OECD

Michelle Bachelet President of Chile

President Bachelet is welcomed by OECD Secretary-General Gurría

“W hen I was elected as my country’s president, one of my principal goals was to see Chile accepted as a full member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

International integration has been a keystone of the foreign policy of Chile’s government coalition–the Concertación–since it was first elected in 1990 with the restoration of democracy. Its commitment to international integration was one reason for seeking admission to the OECD.

But not the only one.

Our interest in forming part of the OECD also has to do with the countries that make up the organisation–likeminded countries, countries that are committed to democracy, to promoting economic growth and trade, to creating jobs and raising living standards, to social equality and sustainable development, to maintaining financial stability, and to transparency. (…)

We also believe that full OECD membership will have unparalleled benefits not only for our country’s position in the world but also at home for our citizens. (…)

As part of Chile’s process of accession to the OECD, we have had to take a long and hard look at our laws, public policies and procedures–even at our statistics–and, in some cases, improve them to bring them up to the highest international standards.

Even before the OECD’s invitation to seek accession in 2007, Chile was adopting OECD recommendations and guidelines as part of its process of modernisation of the state. (…)

We are convinced that Chile can contribute to this organisation in many ways, thanks to our progress and achievements in important areas of economic and social life. These include our fiscal policy and our system of financial regulation and supervision.

In previous crises, emerging countries found themselves shackled by fiscal deficits, high public borrowing, and currency misalignments. Chile tackled these problems. It put its accounts in order and, through fiscal prudence, reduced its borrowing. The result today is an economy that is far less vulnerable. (…)

The OECD’s invitation to Chile, Estonia, Slovenia, Israel and Russia to enter into accession talks reflects your organisation’s interest in aligning its membership with new global realities and, in this way, contributing to the development of nonmember countries as well as member countries. (…)

You have been explicit about the need to forge closer ties with emerging economies of the weight and increasing influence of, for example, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa, through your enhanced engagement strategy. (…) But, just as the OECD is not the OECD we knew in the early 1990s, so too Chile is not the country you knew then, when democracy had just been reestablished.

Today, Chile is a consolidated democracy and a middle-income economy. Building on these achievements, our goal now as a country is to attain development within the space of a generation. (…)

Chile has gradually completed the different stages of its roadmap, fulfilling each of the requirements. Our Congress is currently debating bills to adjust our legislation on exchange of banking information and the legal liability of companies in cases of bribery, the financing of terrorism and money laundering.

Chile is, in other words, approaching the home straight of a long process during which we have been able to improve and modernise our institutions and standards.

That is why I wanted to have this opportunity of meeting you personally. To underline my country’s determination to reach the finishing line and–sooner rather than later–to form part of this community of democracies and best practices. Because that is what, in the end, leads to development.”

Extract adapted from a speech by President Michelle Bachelet of Chile to the OECD Council in Paris, 28 May 2009. A full transcript is available at www.oecdobserver.org. A webcast of the speech can be viewed at www.oecd.org/chile