ZAGREB, 12 July (Hina) - The Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Mathias Cormann, said in Dubrovnik that Croatia was making good progress in its OECD accession process and that he believed a political decision on accession could be made during 2026.
Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria are doing everything necessary to secure the best possible position. Everyone is interested in the final outcome, and the accession process, through policies, legislative practices and by creating better opportunities to achieve higher goals, is, in a way, a promise that conduct aligned with the best and most successful global economies will be officially recognised, said Cormann, who took part in a panel on the OECD accession process at the 18th Dubrovnik Forum.
The current candidate countries for membership include three European countries - Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania, three South American countries - Brazil, Argentina and Peru, and two Asian countries - Indonesia and Thailand. Their accession will ensure the best possible path to optimising economic growth and digital transformation, grounded in shared values. We support governments in achieving the best outcomes for their countries by applying the practices of those who have achieved the best results. Everyone can benefit from the experience gathered. Moreover, the accession process offers a good excuse that some things must be done, he said.
Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman said Croatia was on the right path to achieving its final major foreign policy objective.
We want to show here how committed we are to working with the OECD in order to adapt to new circumstances. When the process was launched in 2022, we had clear rules, but Russia’s aggression against Ukraine called everything into question. Crises followed, and the war changed everything in an unpredictable direction. Nevertheless, Croatia is becoming stable and committed to OECD membership. We are in the final phase, and I hope the process will be formalised by the end of this year, he said, highlighting the strong political will of the government as a key factor.
We knew we would face serious and at times difficult reforms. However, our objective was always clearly defined, so we embarked on serious reforms of public administration, the judiciary, and state-owned companies. Another crucial element is a well-organised and committed administration. Today, we are a key partner in the green and digital transition project in the Western Balkans,” Grlić Radman added.
The state secretary in the Foreign Ministry, Zdenko Lucić, said Croatia represented a success story, as evidenced by the quality and speed of its progress.
For any country, this process is complex, and to be successful, you have to be well informed about everything that needs to be done. It’s important to clearly explain what still needs to be achieved, and both the public and the media need to understand the benefits of Croatia’s accession. I believe support for accession is really high, he said.
The panel also featured the chief coordinator of Croatia’s OECD accession process, Gita Kothari; the secretary-general of Peru's Foreign Ministry, Anderson Machado; Romania’s national coordinator for OECD accession, Luca Niculescu; Thailand’s Deputy Foreign Minister Russ Jalichandra; and the Indonesian Ambassador to Croatia, Suwartini Wirta.
