On March 12, the Economy Minister, Richard Martinez, formally presented Ecuador’s membership application to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)  Development Center. This center promotes cooperation between governments in the design of public policies to promote structural changes with a focus on transparency and social inclusion. This is a further step in the country’s alignment process with the OECD, which formally began in October 2018. This year Ecuador will deepen its participation in other organisational mechanisms, especially those related to anti-corruption and investment promotion.

The OECD Development Centre is a space for cooperation between governments, the private sector and civil society that seeks to promote common public policies. It also serves as a technical space for the study of possible structural reforms. In this sense, Martínez explained that it is an important step to improve the government’s economic plan known as Plan Prosperidad (Prosperity Plan).

Finally, the minister explained the next steps the country will take in its process of alignment with the OECD. In the coming months it will begin to participate in other spaces promoted by this entity. This includes, notably, the OECD Regional Program for Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as spaces for cooperation in matters of corruption and investments. Finally, he announced that the OECD will soon carry out a multidimensional study of the country, with a view to recommending productivity policies.