Delegates to the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting 2024. (Photo: Anh Tuan/VOV)

The Ministerial Council Meeting, the OECD’s highest-level forum, is being co-hosted by Japan and Mexico with the theme “Co-Creating the Flow of Change: Leading Global Discussions with Objective and Reliable Approaches towards Sustainable and Inclusive Growth.” 

Elevating OECD’s role

The two-day meeting includes the presentation of the latest OECD Economic Outlook, the Ministerial Dialogue “Optimising global climate action through data, policy advice, and increased international cooperation: the role of the Inclusive Forum on Carbon Mitigation Approaches”, and a side event called “Towards Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy AI”.    

Addressing the opening session, OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann said the world is at a turning point, with many big challenges that can shape the future development of many countries, such as consecutive economic shocks, climate change, geopolitical fluctuations, increasing protectionism, and the risk of technological disruption and division. The OECD's mission is to connect countries to build sustainable global policies, he said.

“We’ll focus on our work to promote freer and fairer trade and investment to boost economic resilience. We’ll focus on our effort to successfully navigate our climate and sustainable development challenges,” said Cormann.

Besides discussing and cooperating on policy, the OECD also asserts itself through admitting new members and expanding partnership programs with other countries and regions. Cormann said that the OECD is considering the admission of 7 candidates: Indonesia, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Romania, Bulgaria, and Croatia. Thailand has also expressed a desire to join the organization.

As a host of the meeting, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida proposed formulating global regulations on the appropriate use of generative AI technology through a new framework involving like-minded nations. He promised to work with other OECD members in pursuing free and open investment and trade and underlined the need for OECD to expand partnership and dialogue with non-member countries.

Cautiously optimistic about global growth

The OECD’s latest Economic Outlook raised its projection for global economic growth for 2024 to 3.1% from its 2.9% projection in February. Cormann said one of the main reasons is the positive growth of the world's two largest economies, the US and China.

GDP growth in the US is projected to be 2.6% this year, compared to the previous projection of 2.1% and last year’s growth of 2.5%. China is expected to expand moderately, with GDP growth of 4.9% this year, compared to the previous projection of 4.7%, as the economy is supported by fiscal stimulus and exports. Eurozone GDP growth is projected to be 0.7%, which is 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous projection.

“The impact of tighter monetary conditions continues, especially in housing and credit markets, but global activity is proving relatively resilient, inflation is falling faster than initially projected and private sector confidence is improving,” said OECD Secretary General  Cormann. 

The global economy has proved resilient, inflation has declined within sight of the central bank targets and risks to the outlook are becoming more balanced, he added. 

OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli warned that the world economy still faces major risks, including geopolitical instability and persistent high inflation, especially in the service sector, causing people's income and purchasing power to decline.