Brazil to intensify efforts to enter OECD

Brazil will intensify negotiations in a bid to enter the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the presidency announced in a statement on Wednesday.

Seeking to meet the requirements for being a full member, Brazil will strengthen its delegation to the OECD from March, according to the statement.

Discussions held at the OECD, a bloc of 35 member countries that together account for 62 percent of global GDP and around two-third of international trade, wield important influence over decisions by other international bodies, including the World Trade Organization, according to Carlos Marcio Cozendey, undersecretary for economic and financial affairs at the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The United States, Canada, Mexico and Chile are the only full members from the Americas.

To apply for full membership, Brazil must show that it has met the 237 recommendations of the OECD. The government said Brazil has met 36.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)