OECD and Russia to discuss partnership

During the meeting, to take place on Monday 30 October in Paris, Secretary-General, Donald Johnston, and Vladimir Putin will discuss how the OECD can best help the Russian Government move forward on a path of comprehensive reforms.

The programme of co-operation between the OECD and Russia allows the Russian government to exchange views with their international counterparts, allowing insight into reforms inside Russia. In turn, Russia is given advice on areas such as corporate governance, competition, anti-corruption, and reforming public institutions. Discussions take place with peers who have faced similar challenges.

One of the key areas in which the OECD and Russia work together is on promoting the legal and administrative framework for environmental protection (see related story). Russia’s pollution and waste of natural resources is seriously holding back the country’s economic development, with pollution and waste production per unit of GDP far higher than in OECD countries. As well as the usual associated problems from pollution and waste, foreign earnings derived from cheap exports of oil, gas and timber also lead to a culture of overuse and wastefulness, according to the OECD.

“Like many of the problems in Russia today,” says the OECD, “the environment is caught in the economic and legal morass – weak rule of law, corruption and lack of civil society – which undermines most aspects of its society.”