PARIS, 06 Oct. - (ANA) - Ghana’s entry today into the OECD Development Centre marks a significant stride in support of the country’s inclusive growth and development strategy. It also deepens the Centre’s global representativeness and institutional cooperation with pan-African arenas as it welcomes its 9th African member country.

The second largest economy in West Africa, Ghana has experienced solid growth over the last three decades. Its strong productive base and dynamic population are key assets in the wake of reforms aimed at tackling the challenges of macroeconomic stability, energy supply and economic diversification. Growth prospects remain positive, with a gross domestic product projected to increase by 3.9% in 2015, according to the latest African Economic Outlook.

Ghana joins 49 OECD and non-OECD countries that are already members of the OECD Development Centre. The Centre helps decision makers find policy solutions to stimulate growth and improve living conditions in developing and emerging economies.

Ghana’s accession to the OECD Development Centre was endorsed today during a special session of the Governing Board in the presence of the President of Ghana, Mr. John Dramani Mahama, in the framework of the OECD Development Week 2015 at the Organisation’s headquarters.

“In applying to join the Centre, and as we go through today’s ceremony, as President, my satisfaction is the opportunity the Centre offers to share experiences with member states and seek solutions to common problems towards the promotion of growth and development. The benefits and opportunities available to our lower middle-income country as a member of the Development Centre are obvious.”, stated President Mahama. He added: “And when it comes to medium and long-term strategy, the Multidimensional Country Reviews (MDCR) on the model of several countries including Côte d’Ivoire, Kazakhstan or Peru will help the work of the National Development Planning Commission.”

“Ghana’s strong democratic tradition, its development experience, its poverty reduction track-record as well as its leadership at the sub-regional level will enrich significantly our debates and work on development for the implementation of Sustainable Development Objectives,” stated Pierre Duquesne, the Chair of the OECD Development Centre Governing Board and Ambassador of France to the OECD.

Mario Pezzini, Director of the OECD Development Centre, strongly welcomed Ghana’s entry as “a valuable opportunity for mutually beneficial knowledge-sharing.” He added that “Ghana’s participation in the Centre’s activities will advance our strong ongoing engagement and partnerships with Africa”.

The Development Centre provides analytical and comparative policy expertise, with tools such as Multidimensional Country Reviews and dialogue platforms – at the global, national and regional levels - to support the development of better policies in Ghana. 

Areas of cooperation include Ghana’s participation in the OECD Development Centre’s lead initiatives:  the Assessing the Economic Contribution of Labour Migration in Developing Countries as Countries of Destination project conducted with the International Labour Organisation, the policy dialogue on Natural Resource-based Development, the policy dialogue on Global Value Chains, Production Transformation and Development along with related activities on industrial polices and taxation improvement with Ghana’s participation in the Revenue Statistics in Africa initiative as well as in the OECD Tax and Development Programme. The Initiative aims at improving data availability for better tax administration and domestic resource mobilisation. -(ANA)

AB/ANA/ 06 October 2015 - - -