Resolution 1467 (2005)1
The OECD and the world economy
1. The enlarged Parliamentary
Assembly, composed of delegations of the Organization for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) and Council of Europe member states, has examined
the recent activities of the OECD as they relate to the world economy,
in the light of the report prepared by the enlarged Assembly’s Committee
on Economic Affairs and Development and the contributions from various
other committees.
2. It welcomes the overall
solid growth of the world economy, thanks in particular to continued growth
in the United States as well as in China, India, Brazil, the Russian Federation
and numerous emerging economies. All of these increasingly provide the
main impetus to global economic growth and the enlarged Assembly welcomes
the OECD’s growing co-operation with them, making its reach and sphere
of influence global, even if its membership is not.
3. The enlarged Assembly notes with satisfaction that
inflation in the OECD area has nevertheless remained well contained, likely
reflecting both rising productivity and increased competition, but also
a richer supply of goods and services that results from rapidly increasing
world trade. In the interest especially of emerging and developing economies
and for the realisation of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals,
it is vital to develop further an open trading and financial system that
is rules-based, predictable and non-discriminatory and to provide development
assistance to countries committed to poverty reduction. This can be achieved
notably through the successful conclusion, under the auspices of the World
Trade Organization (WTO), of the Doha Development Agenda which also reflects
the efforts to eliminate poverty, improve social conditions and raise living
standards in the world economy. The enlarged Assembly asks the OECD, together
with the WTO, to identify new principles to guide world trade in order
to encourage technological investment flows to countries in particular
need.
4. However, a number of worrying
developments cloud the horizon. The huge and steadily rising current account
deficit of the United States is unsustainable over time and may lead to
a painful correction by markets as the world’s savings are spent to
compensate for low United States domestic savings. In this context, it
is important that the United States and other countries implement macroeconomic
policies in an appropriate and timely manner.
5. The enlarged Assembly also
hopes that countries which deliberately maintain weak national currencies
vis-à-vis others will cease doing so as soon as possible and believes that
countries all over the world should adopt a more flexible exchange rate
regime in order to gradually improve global imbalances.
6. Timid growth in the eurozone
is another source of concern, with Italy and Germany on the verge of recession
and the 12 participating countries diverging rather than converging economically.
The enlarged Assembly agrees with the OECD that the European Central Bank
(ECB) may now well have room to lower its policy-setting interest rate
in order to revive economic activity. At the same time it calls on the
European Monetary Union (EMU) member states concerned to speed up economic
reform in the spirit of the 2000 Lisbon Agenda. It is important that the
will to reform not be weakened by the results of a number of national referendums
on the European Union Constitutional Treaty, since this would only aggravate
an already difficult economic situation and jeopardise growth.
7. High and volatile oil prices,
due in particular to rapidly rising demand in the United States and in
emerging economies, especially China, pose a further risk to world economic
growth. The enlarged Assembly calls on OECD member countries to make greater
efforts to increase energy efficiency; reduce their dependence on fossil
energy, especially oil and coal; diversify energy sources including via
nuclear energy, particularly addressing the unresolved problem of the processing
and storage of radioactive nuclear waste, and further develop renewable
energy sources and technologies. The enlarged Assembly also invites OECD
member countries to intensify efforts to promote peace and political stability
in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf regions. In this context, it welcomes
the Initiative on Governance and Investment for Development launched by
MENA (the states of the Middle East and Northern Africa) and supported
by the OECD and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
8. The enlarged Assembly welcomes
the OECD’s extensive co-operation with the Russian Federation under
its programme devoted to that country, which provides notably for assistance
in the accession process to the WTO. The enlarged Assembly hopes that this
can be completed in the very near future, especially if Russia undertakes
the needed domestic structural reforms, the liberalisation of its economy
and manages to broaden the country’s economic base away from oil and
gas, thereby strengthening investor confidence.
9. Given the impact of the
opening up and growth of the Chinese economy, the enlarged Assembly also
welcomes the first OECD Economic Survey of the country completed in 2005,
as well as the launch of the China Governance Project, and urges further
development of these programmes.
10. The pronounced imbalances
in the world economy – as illustrated for example by the US current
account deficit, the increasing divergence between eurozone economies and
the preoccupying fact that many of the world’s poorest countries are
lagging further and further behind – are additional sources of concern.
The enlarged Assembly in this context calls on the OECD to conduct more
research on hedge funds and derivatives such as swaps, options and collateralised
debt obligations.
11. The enlarged Assembly
is pleased to note the success, one year onwards, of the European Union’s
2004 enlargement to include 10 new member states, as demonstrated by these
countries’ rapid economic and institutional development and growing
integration within the wider EU. It recognises the OECD’s contribution
to this process via programmes such as SIGMA (Support for Improvement in
Governance and Management) which are also carried out with respect to other
countries in eastern Europe and beyond.
12. It is important in this
respect that thought be given to the further enlargement of the OECD itself,
so as to include, as soon as possible, all the countries in the world that
meet the its criteria, with due attention paid to ensuring a proper balance
between world regions. OECD enlargement is all the more important when
considering that its current membership is less and less apt to reflect
the world’s new economic realities and the sea-change in the distribution
of its increasing wealth. The OECD’s co-operation programmes with
rising economies, while laudable, will no longer suffice in tackling challenges
facing richer countries, including how this group may best assist the world’s
poorer countries, for instance in the realisation of the Millennium Development
Goals.
13. The enlarged Assembly notes the growing impact of
such factors as education, scientific research, social cohesion, good governance
and democratic stability on the economic performance of individual states
and the world economy as a whole and recommends that OECD member states
pay closer attention to such factors. In this respect, it welcomes the
multilateral work achieved and standards set in those areas by the OECD
and the Council of Europe and calls on these organisations to intensify
their co-operation and co-ordination in this respect.
14. It invites the OECD to carry out a comparative study
on performance in OECD member countries examining the role of higher education
and research in enabling students to achieve their full potential, for
example in meeting an increasing diversity of needs and demands associated
with the knowledge society, lifelong learning, globalisation, national
and regional economies, local communities, as well as social cohesion and
equity.
15. The enlarged Assembly calls on the OECD and the Council
of Europe to co-ordinate their action on mutually identified priority areas
in the field of education policy.
16. It calls on the OECD to consider the non-economic
aspects of agriculture. Consideration should be given not only to the production
aspect, its primary role, but also to the contribution of agriculture to
the economic and social life of rural regions, the preservation and maintenance
of landscapes and the protection of life’s essential elements: water,
air and land. Only on this condition will the balance between cities and
rural areas be preserved.
17. The enlarged Assembly strongly supports the OECD’s
ongoing mandate to mainstream sustainable development and considers that
the implementation of the objectives of the OECD’s Environmental Strategy
for the First Decade of the 21st Century to achieve environmental sustainability
should be treated as an urgent priority. In particular, urgent action is
needed to implement the Kyoto Protocol and reduce greenhouse gas emissions
in the post-Kyoto period, beyond 2012.
18. Finally, the enlarged Assembly
on the activities of the OECD decides to modify its Rules of Procedure
adopted in 1992 as contained in the appendix to this report.
Appendix
Modification of the Rules of Procedure
for enlarged debates of the Parliamentary Assembly on the activities of the OECD
1. The Rules of Procedure for the enlarged
debates of the Parliamentary Assembly on the activities of the OECD were
adopted in 1992 and amended in 1994. They appear on pages 150 to 158
of the 2005 version of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly.
2. Since then, the Rules of Procedure
of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe have been modified
to reflect changing circumstances, such as the Council’s enlarged
membership, now counting 46 member states plus observers.
3. In line with the above, the Rules
of Procedure for the enlarged Assembly are modified as follows:
– Part
III.1, add “or a Vice-President” after “the President”;
– Part
III.1, delete the second sentence;
– Part
V.5, in the third sentence, replace “7 minutes” with “3
minutes”, in order to align speaking times with those in the Assembly,
thereby allowing persons speaking on behalf of committees 3 minutes;
– Part
VI.3, add at the end: “Sub-amendments must be tabled at least
one hour before the end of the previous sitting of the same part-session
preceding that in which the debate begins” (same rule as for the
Assembly):
– Part
VI.5, replace “3 minutes” with “1 minute”;
– Part
VIII.2, replace “ten members” with “thirty members” and “three
parliamentary delegations” with “five parliamentary delegations”;
– Part
IX.6, replace “three minutes” by “one minute”.
In
the English version only, on page 154, Part VI.3, add the following words
at the end of the last sentence “, by 7 p.m. on the eve of the debate.”
1. Assembly
debate on 5 October 2005 (29th Sitting) (see Doc.
10645, report of the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development,
rapporteur: Mr Vrettos).
Text adopted by the Assembly on 5 October 2005
(29th Sitting).
