Business applauds OECD Seoul Ministerial Meeting Declaration on the Future of the Internet Economy

Ministers have taken the important step to reaffirm the principles from the 1998 OECD Ottawa Ministerial that allowed a platform for electronic commerce to evolve into a platform for all aspects of life over the last 10 years,” declared Mr. Peter Robinson, President and CEO of the United States Council for International Business.

Bush hails US-European ties in Paris speech

U.S. President George W. Bush praised a new era in US-European ties in a speech delivered at the headquarters of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

BIAC names new Executive Board at its annual meeting

At its 3 June Meeting of the General Assembly, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC) moved unanimously to name Mr. Niels Nordgaard (Denmark), Mr. Randolf Rodenstock (Germany) and Mr. Ricardo González Sada (Mexico) as new Vice Chairmen of its Executive Board.

Keep OECD markets open for Sovereign Wealth Funds

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) have attracted much attention particularly in the past ten months when they injected more than US$50 billion into financial institutions in the United States and Europe that were in need of liquidity as a result of the financial turmoil caused by the subprime mortgage crisis.

See also: OECD report on SWFs

BIAC welcomes business organisations in Brazil, Chile, Slovenia and South Africa as new Observers

At its last meeting, the BIAC Executive Board agreed and accepted four new business organisations to join as BIAC Observers. BIAC is pleased to welcome these organisations to its Observer network and very much looks forward to working with the business communities in each of them.

Given the growing significance and rapid pace of development of nanotechnology, business leadership in the OECD’s work in these areas is all the more important. BIAC experts are currently working closely with two OECD policy groups as well as in the international arena, in order to help unlock the full potential that nanotechnologies have to offer.

OECD Financial Markets Committee calls for fundamental reform of financial markets

Fundamental reform of the financial system and its regulation is needed to address the issues highlighted by the current financial markets crisis, according to the OECD Financial Markets Committee. Priority should be given to private sector initiatives to speed up the recovery of financial markets but government intervention may be needed.

Factbook 2008 shows wide variations in productivity across OECD countries

The OECD Factbook is the best-selling, innovative title from the OECD. It provides a global overview of today’s major economic, social and environmental indicators, presenting them clearly and concisely, and in a range of user-friendly formats. Productivity is the special focus of the new Factbook which includes more than 160 major indicators overall. In addition to data for OECD countries, this edition provides a broad range of statistics for other major world economies such as India, China and Brazil.