Having concluded her official visit to China, Foreign Minister Mondino left Beijing and arrived last night in Paris, where she had a number of activities scheduled for today, including her participation in the meeting of the OECD Ministerial Council—at which the Roadmap for the OECD Accession Process of Argentina was presented—as well as meetings with the OECD Secretary-General, Mathias Cormann, European Union authorities and her counterparts from European and other countries.
During her speech at the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting, Mondino expressed Argentina’s gratitude for and satisfaction with the formal adoption of the Roadmap for acceding to the organisation and said that Argentina “wants to focus on a rules-based system, for the greater good of our people and to consolidate the agenda for freedom that the country is currently pursuing.”
The Foreign Minister further stated: “We need to maintain the benefits to achieve, as we expect, a more stable economy, and at the same time focus on important issues for our society, such as education and everything that makes life better.”
Moreover, she added: “We want to establish strict coordination, as requested by OECD in this process, and therefore we expect to produce a qualitative change that will result in better public policies, as required by our country. As a democracy, and as a member of a community of democracies, we hope to engage in constructive dialogue with other Member countries on good public policies within the OECD.” Towards the end of her speech, she highlighted that, with Argentina’s willingness and conviction to access the OECD, “a new process begins, which will enable us to reintegrate into the world, and we hope to cooperate in the future.”
Through President Milei’s message accepting the invitation to join the Organisation (sent on 11 December 2023, the day after taking office), the Argentine Government ratified the country’s adhesion to the principles set out in the 60th Anniversary Vision Statement and in the Ministerial Council Statement, both adopted in 2021.
The Ministerial Council Meeting (MCM) is the OECD’s highest-level forum, attended by Ministers of Finance, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Trade and other government departments from OECD Member and Partner countries, and by representatives of International Organizations.
Before her speech, the Foreign Minister met with OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann, with whom she discussed the political importance that the Argentine Government attaches to the accession process, mainly as a tool to deepen political, economic and cultural reforms necessary for the country, as well as to strengthen Argentina’s integration into the global scenario.
During the meeting, Modino—joined by the Ambassador to France, Ian Sielecki; the Secretary for Finance, Pablo Quirno; and the Foreign Ministry’s Secretary for Economic International Relations, Marcelo Cima—discussed with Cormann the next steps in the accession process, including the drafting of an Initial Memorandum, as well as the creation of an inter-ministerial coordination mechanism and the appointment of a High Representative, among others.
