30.9.2011

WELCOME TO MR ANGEL GURRÍA,

SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC

CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT (OECD)

(Strasbourg, Wednesday 5 October 2011)

Mr Gurría, I am very pleased to welcome you again to this Chamber, with which you are already very familiar. And I extend this welcome to our parliamentary guests from Australia, Canada, Chile, Israel, Japan, Korea and Mexico.

Let me also congratulate you on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the creation of the OECD. This anniversary comes at a very significant moment for your Organisation, as it is expanding both its core membership and its broader audience, and is developing new strategies for stable long-term growth.

You address our Assembly at a moment when pressures are building up for a rebalancing of the world economy. The crisis has indeed left many Council of Europe member states with a legacy of modest growth, weak public finances and persistently high unemployment. New development strategies are imperative to address all these problems and the OECD has a crucial role to play in this process.

Mr Gurría, we are looking forward to hearing your views on the state of the world’s economy and on the possible way forward. You have the floor.