Brazil's entry into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will help unlock the ratification of the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union (EU), Foreign Minister Carlos França said.

The Foreign Minister said that the analysis of Brazil's "accession roadmap" (accession plan) to the OECD is expected to last two or three years, but assured that the Brazilian government is working to speed up the process and anticipate this deadline.

"Without a doubt, Brazil will now have a seat in the OECD, which brings together ambassadors from most countries of the European Union, we will have a privileged dialogue with these countries. This is a facilitating factor so that we can transmit to these countries the Brazilian vision on all these issues that we have here: environment, productivity, social inclusion and public and private governance", said the minister during the event Week Brazil-OECD, which takes place until Friday (24) in Brasília. 

Approved in 2019, after 20 years of negotiations, the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union needs to be ratified by the parliaments of all the countries of the two blocs to enter into force. However, several European countries have suspended the approval of the agreement, which will require additional negotiations.

Adhesion

Regarding the oecd accession process, the Chancellor explained that the "roadmap of accession" received by Brazil on The 10th, in Paris, acts as a map of the path with the policies necessary for a given country to be part of the group. By the end of the year, France said, the country will send an initial memorandum when the application for adtome will be formalized.

According to the chancellor, Brazil takes advantage because, of the 257 oecd normative instruments, the country joined 112. To join the group, which brings together the most industrialized economies on the planet but has expanded in recent years, at least 229 legal instruments are required to join. "Brazil is the country that historically adhered to the largest number of instruments even before the accession process," he said.

The minister stressed that one of the indications that the OECD will have good will to speed up the process of adhering is that the thematic committees that will examine the Brazilian plan will work in parallel, without the need to wait for one committee to close the activities to start another. At least four thematic committees are expected to be put together: taxation, environment, human rights, governance (public and private) and productivity.

Commitments

According to Carlos França, the Brazilian government is committed to the OECD's basic guidelines. The axes, he listed, are as follows: best practices of public governance, greater transparency, fight against corruption and creation of a better business environment (customs facilitation and debureaucratization of foreign trade, tax collection, business opening and internal organization of companies).

"The path to modernity, to bring more investments to Brazil, demands precisely the accession to these principles. These are principles that I understand that Brazilian society wants. We think this is a state policy," commented Carlos França. He recalled that since 2015, Brazil has been a key partner of the OECD and is attentive to the international organization's guidelines.

In the coming months, explained the Chancellor, the government intends to discuss the membership of the legal instruments that are still lacking with the National Congress, with business institutions, such as the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) and society. The minister says he has met with deputies and senators and received the indication that Congress is willing to speed up the necessary votes.

Latin America

France gave an interview to the EBC after the transfer of the co-presidency of the OECD Regional Program to Latin America and the Caribbean, a project to bring the OECD closer to the countries of the continent. After three years co-chaired by Brazil and Mexico, the program was led by Colombia and Paraguay.

According to the Chancellor, Brazil and Mexico worked on three fundamental pillars of the OECD regional program: productivity, social inclusion and governance. A fourth pillar of environmental protection was included throughout the management. Through the regional program, the OECD and Latin American and Caribbean countries discuss public policies for the continent.

"This [regional] program allows us, having greater contact with the OECD, to know what the objectives of this organization are, its highest standards and understand the guidelines they establish. Not just in the process of accession, but long before him", explained the minister.

Challenges

Present at the change of command, OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann said Latin America faces a number of challenges posed by the covid-19 pandemic and the war between Russia and Ukraine. "The economies of the planet, including Latin America, were recovering relatively strong, relatively fast [from the pandemic]. Now the world is living with the war in Ukraine, which is reducing global growth and increasing inflation," he said.

For Cormann, Latin America and the Caribbean have long-standing challenges that require structural reforms, to which several problems have been added in recent years. "We must provide answers to climate change. We are adamant that we optimize the benefits and opportunities of digital transformation in our economies and societies. We still need to pursue the sustainable expansion of global trade within a fully operational international trading system," he added.

The OECD has 38 members, four of whom are Latin American: Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Costa Rica. Brazil and Peru were invited earlier this year and are discussing the accession plan, with the "accession roadmap" approved along with that of three other European countries: Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania. Argentina was invited in 2019, but is still in the dialogue phase.