The Ministry of Finance Releases the Annual Report on Israel’s Activity in the OECD for 2004

The Ministry of Finance has released the annual report on Israel’s activity in the OECD – the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development – for 2004. The report details the participation by government ministries and other governmental agencies inthe work of OECD committees and supporting groups.
 
The report includes a general survey of the organization, with an emphasis on its structure and work methods, details of the manner in which the organization collaborates with non-member nations, a description of the process of joining the organization, and the requirements derived from this process.
 
The Ministry of Finance is promoting Israel’s joining the OECD, and heads an interministerial committee established in order to realize the aim of membership. In 2004, Israel expanded the scope of its activity within the OECD by joining four new work bodies: the Working Party on Debt Management, the Working Party on Financial Statistics, the Working Party on Waste Prevention and Recycling, and the Insurance and Private Pensions Committee.
 
After over a decade of activity in the organization, Israel is currently registered in 48 work bodies: as a member in twelve of the organization’s work bodies, as an observer in 32 work bodies, and as an ad-hoc observer in three work groups and one committee. Israel is the non-member nation with the second-largest volume of activity within the OECD, after the Russian Federation.
 
Full membership in the organization is a strategic goal of the State of Israel; among other things, it involves an examination of the extent of compatibility between Israeli legislation and policy and the organization’s legal instruments (resolutions, recommendations, and declarations adopted by the OECD). These legal instruments are discussed and examined in depth in the course of the work of the organization’s committees and supporting groups.