The new plan could be discussed next week.
The new Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Matthias Corman of Australia, is proposing that six countries, including Bulgaria and Brazil, join the club of rich countries at the same time, Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the question.
The new plan could be discussed at an OECD meeting next week.
The OECD is a forum for democracies with a solid market economy. The 36-member organization has only three member states from Latin America – Chile, Mexico and Colombia, according to Reuters.
Brazil’s accession process, which began in 2017, has stalled, in part because of the United States’ opposition to OECD enlargement to Eastern European countries, although former US President Donald Trump has backed the adoption of the largest Latin American economy, according to Reuters.
The new OECD secretary general is now proposing that the six candidate countries go through the accession process at the same time, said a representative of the Brazilian government. The source, who requested anonymity, explained that the idea was to blur the resistance against the admission of a particular country.
The six candidate countries are Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia from Eastern Europe, as well as Brazil, Argentina and Peru from Latin America.
France, for example, opposes accepting Brazil because of President Jair Bolsonaro’s environmental policy. It first wants progress from Brazil in the fight against deforestation in the Amazon, Reuters notes.
Matthias Corman is holding private talks with member states to gather support for his proposal before formally presenting it at the OECD ministerial meeting on October 5th and 6th in Paris, the Brazilian government spokesman said.
Another person familiar with the subject confirmed that Corman had such a plan. He also wished to remain anonymous, as the conversations are confidential.
“The European Union has always supported this formula, but since the United States has not yet stated its position, many countries prefer to wait,” he said.
Brazil hopes that its accession to the OECD will boost investor confidence in it, at a time when the country is struggling with high inflation and unemployment, as well as the effects of the pandemic. The country ranks second in the world after the United States in the number of deaths related to the new coronavirus.
The Brazilian Ministry of Economy declined to comment on the subject to Reuters.
