The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) invited on Wednesday Slovenia - along with four other nations - to join the organisation, fulfilling the country's decade-long foreign policy goal.
Slovenia asked for membership in the economic think tank associating the world's top 30 economies in 1996, while approval came today as ministers from the OECD met in Paris.
The formal invitation to join the elite club of the world's leading economies is to be followed by the launch of membership talks, which could be closed by year's end or in early 2008.
Slovenia received the invitation together with Estonia, Russia, Israel and Chile.
OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria voiced "great pleasure" that Slovenia was among the five countries that have been invited to join the organisation.
Speaking for Slovenian journalists after the close of the OECD ministerial, Gurria said that Slovenia had good negotiating prospects and that the tempo of the talks would be dictated by Slovenia.
According to him, today's development marks the start of a process that will still require a lot of work. The decision does not mean that "Slovenia will become a member overnight", he pointed out.
Gurria said focus should not be paid on why it took so long for Slovenia to get an invitation - instead, there should be delight that this has finally happened.
According to the Foreign Ministry, which has headed Slovenia's efforts to join the OECD, Slovenia stands to have better access to key global economic data and improve its international image by joining the OECD.
One of the main benefits of membership, says the ministry, is assistance in planning national policies and cooperation in projects that would be too costly to carry out by Slovenia alone.
Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel hailed the invitation, saying it was good for the country to be in. "In the economy as elsewhere, insider information is essential. If there ever was an insider club, it is the OECD."
According to him, the cost of membership are expected to be on par with those of Luxembourg, which has a similar GDP - about EUR 700,000 annually. Considering the benefits, the cost is quite low, he said. Slovenia first applied for membership in the elite economic club in 1996. In 1999 it appointed an inter-departmental taskforce for membership, while top officials recently stepped up lobbying at the highest level.
The OECD membership criteria set down that a new member must be "like-minded" and a "significant player", and it must also have "mutual benefit", while its membership must gave "global considerations".
The Foreign Ministry said that Slovenia fulfilled the criteria. The main factors weighing in Slovenia's favour are eurozone membership, its stint as the chair of the OSCE in 2005, membership of the UN Security Council in 1998-99 and its chairing of the IAEA Board of Governors in 2006-07, as well as its term as EU president in the first half of 2008.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) welcomed the invitation issue to Slovenia to "join an organisation that will open the door to be at the source of information". It added that membership of the OECD would promote the transfer of best practices in the economy.
Some of Slovenia's leading economists have already welcomed the news of the invitation, saying OECD membership would primarily help improve Slovenia's economic data, while also boosting the country's international image.
Of the 27 EU member states, 19 are members of the OECD. The other members are Australia, Canada, US, Japan, South Korea, Iceland, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey.
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