Joint Press Release by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of the President’s Chief of Staff and the Ministry of Economy – Brazil is invited to start the OECD accession process

On Tuesday, January 25, the Brazilian government received the news that the 38 members of the Council of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) unanimously decided to invite Brazil to begin the formal process of joining the organization, which brings together the world's most advanced economies. As part of the OECD's enlargement, Brazil's accession will further strengthen the Organization, which is increasingly important in global economic governance.

Brazil is fully in line with the OECD's core values, expressed in the OECD’s 60th Anniversary Vision Statement and the 2021 Council Ministerial Statement, namely, upholding free market principles, strengthening democracy, economic modernization and the protection of the environment and human rights.

The invitation to Brazil is the result of intense work, including diplomatic negotiations with the OECD secretariat and members. It represents a historic milestone for the country, whose rapprochement with the Organization began in 1991, through the initiative of the first mission of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Organization, and was strengthened through membership in various committees in subsequent decades. The intention to join the Organization as a full member was formalized in 2017 and adopted in 2018 as a foreign policy priority of the Bolsonaro government.

The country is already in an advanced stage of convergence with the OECD, having adhered to 103 of its 251 normative instruments. In the current administration of President Jair Bolsonaro alone, there have been 38 adhesions, an average of more than 12 per year, which expresses the new priority assigned to the adoption, by Brazil, of good international practices, such as in the areas of public governance, regulatory improvement, and financial liberalization, aimed at improving the business environment, increasing innovation, productivity, and competitiveness of the agents that operate in Brazil.

In addition, as a key partner of the OECD, Brazil already formally participates in more than 30 of the Organization’s committees and working groups as a guest, participant or associate, in areas as diverse as trade, investment, competition defense, agriculture, education, taxation and digital economy.

Adhesion to the OECD contributes to promoting growth and competitiveness in the Brazilian economy and attracting investments, thus generating income and creating jobs and business opportunities, as well as deepening Brazil's international integration. It also allows for the continuous improvement of public policy formulation processes and statistics on the country’s economic and social indicators.  

Accession to the OECD will require a coordinated and articulated effort by the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the government, in addition to the private sector and civil society, in order to follow an agenda of structural reforms that allows Brazil to implement the best regulatory practices, with a view to offering better public services, promoting a better environment for the private sector and addressing the development challenges of the 21st century.

With the beginning of the accession process, Brazil's dialogue with the secretariat and OECD member countries now enters a new and more intense technical and diplomatic phase with multiple negotiations, in an effort to conclude the process in the shortest possible time.

The Brazilian Government is committed to working towards this historic objective with a sense of urgency and priority to modernize the State, promote economic development and improve the quality of life for all Brazilians.