History

History
Origins

The forerunner of OECD was the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC). OEEC was formed in 1947 to administer American and Canadian aid under the Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Europe after World War II. Its headquarters were established at the Château de la Muette in Paris in 1949.

OECD took over from OEEC in 1961. Since then, its mission has been to help its member countries to achieve sustainable economic growth and employment and to raise the standard of living in member countries while maintaining financial stability – all this in order to contribute to the development of the world economy.

Its founding Convention also calls on it to assist sound economic expansion in other countries and to contribute to growth in world trade on a multilateral, non-discriminatory basis.

Evolution

In order to contribute to the development of the world economy, OECD’s focus has progressively broadened to include a growing number of other countries, in addition to its 30 members. It now shares its expertise and accumulated experience with more than 70 developing and emerging market economies.

What next

In a rapidly-changing globalised economy, OECD is changing too. The Organisation is reforming its management and addressing such issues as burden-sharing in the context of the OECD budget, rules on decision-making and how to respond to changes in the global economic environment by enlarging its membership.

It has also renovated its Paris headquarters and built a new conference centre. All these efforts are directed towards making OECD a more effective instrument of international co-operation.