Gov’t Launches OECD Accession Portal

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Minister of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reforms Abdullah Azwar Anas, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Pahala Mansury and Deputy Chairperson of KPK launch the OECD Accession Portal. (Photo by: Ministry of Finance)

The Government continues making swift actions in its efforts for the country to become a full member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In this regard, the Government has launched the OECD Accession Portal to serve as a platform for the OECD National Team and to accelerate accession process that usually takes three years to complete.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, chairman of the OECD National Team, said that the team comprising 64 ministries/institutions divided into 26 committees will use this portal to coordinate regarding the target of each sector. The National Team will also prepare the initial memorandum that outlines Indonesia’s policies in relation to the OECD instruments.

“The OECD Accession Portal is a digital system that monitors Indonesia’s accession process to become a full member of OECD,” Airlangga said adding that Indonesia is the first Southeast Asian country registering for OECD full membership and has entered accession process.

He also expressed hope that the initial accession process can be maintained so that Indonesia can strengthen its national economy and is on par with OECD member countries.

In the meantime, Minister of Finance as the deputy chair of OECD National Team mentioned that Indonesia’s OECD accession process also aims at improving ministries/institutions regarding OECD instruments. She underscored that a sense of belonging is important for the accession process since substance of OECD instruments has cross-institutional nature.

“We make this effort for the advancement of the country and as a requirement to become a full member of the OECD. If we can make some improvements and become the member of OECD, these are the results,” she said.

Minister for State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reforms Abdullah Azwar Anas added that the Government will implement significant reforms to match the country’s policies with OECD instruments.

He went on to say that the Ministry of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reforms is developing an instrument for World Class Bureaucracy (WCB) to identify a gap between the Indonesian Government’s standards and international standards, including the OECD’s. The instrument also serves as a motor to meet some conditions required for Indonesia’s OECD accession.

The Ministry has cooperated with related ministries/institutions in drawing up initial memorandum in public governance and mapped relations between OECD legal instrument and Indonesia’s Grand Design for National Bureaucratic Reforms. In addition, the Ministry has also actively participated in OECD agenda and involved in OECD surveys in the hope of supporting the alignment of policies and practices in the field of public governance that are in accordance with OECD standards. (PR of Ministry for State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reforms /KS/UN)) (RAS/MMB)