The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

At the end of 2001 the OECD had a staff of around 1,800 with a budget of €220m, of which Austria contributes 1.1 per cent. The administrative reorganisation that has taken place in recent years was supplemented in 2001 with a fundamental reconsideration of the organisation's primary objectives. The necessity of outreach activities and an extension of the OECD's external relations is now undisputed. Participation in the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe continued, as did the cooperation programmes with the Baltic States, Russia, China and South East Asia. Non-members like Slovenia take part in OECD committees as observers. The new Global Forums on various themes were held as instruments of a dialogue with non-members. Austria, with an eye on the forthcoming EU enlargement, endeavoured to bring all the candidate countries closer to the OECD.

The Development Assistance Committee (DAC) set itself four priorities for its future work: reduction of poverty, sustainable development, conflict prevention, and trade capacity building. Cooperation continued with the United Nations, the international financial institutions and the European Union towards implementing the objectives set out in the UN Millennium Declaration. Austria is also involved in the progress towards the long-term common goal of sustainable economic and social development, and participated in all the coordinating meetings with the priority and cooperation countries.

A multi-disciplinary three-year project for the scientific assessment of the health systems of the OECD member states was inaugurated in 2001. The reason for this is the steadily growing pressure on national systems arising from enhanced expectations, population developments, and expensive technological advances in treatment methods. In many countries there is concern over how to improve performance, allow equal access for everyone to health care, and develop modern methods of financing it. These were the themes of an OECD conference entitled Measuring Up - Improving Health Systems Performance in OECD Countries that was held jointly with Canada in November as the opening event and first contribution to the project.

In May a meeting of ministers of finance, the economy and the environment adopted political guidelines on sustainable development. These include the increased use of environmental taxation, the practical application of new technologies, and the inclusion of environmental and social considerations in trade and investment policies. The main issues in the implementation of these guidelines are the quantification of sustainability and the use of these standards in national reports, preparations for the UN world summit on sustainable development in Johannesburg in 2002, and the identification of barriers to the relevant political reforms. The Ad-hoc Group on Sustainable Development, which is to supervise these tasks, is to meet for the first time in 2002.

The events of September 11 gave a fresh stimulus to the OECD work on taxation and money laundering. The progress report by the Committee on Fiscal Affairs contains a list of measures for improving cooperation between member states and the so-called "tax havens" with a view to combating harmful tax practices. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which since 1998 has endeavoured to uncover weak points in the campaign against money laundering among members and non-members alike, published a list of 19 non-cooperative countries and jurisdictions.

The first survey of the Austrian national economy since the advent of the current Federal Government was presented, with the emphasis on sustainable development. The results of the examination were summarised in the words: "A well-performing economy that could do better."

Ministerial and other high-level OECD meetings were held on the environment, agriculture, education, and sustainable development. The ministerial meeting of the International Energy Agency (IEA) in May stressed that research, development and demonstration (RD&D) are essential to ensure security of energy supply, protection of the environment and economic growth. It emphasised the necessity of state support for longterm RD&D, and called on industry to participate in it. The Czech Republic joined the IEA in 2001, and Korea was invited to become a member. Poland and Slovakia are currently applicants, and preparatory talks have taken place with Mexico.