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CONFIDENTIAL
12
ANNEX
C/NM(90)22(1st Revision)
1.
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE OECD/DAL PROCESS FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE PRESENT
The OECD/DAE process originated from discussions at the meetings of the Group on North-South Economic Issues and of the Heads of Delegation in June 1987. Following these discussions, the Secretary-General transmitted to Ambassadors a document entitled "The Major Developing Economies and the OECD: Outline for a Study", dated 2nd July 1987 [SG/MDE/1].
A.
2.
The Report on "The Major Developing Economies and_the_QECD"
The study was undertaken by the Secretariat in order to assess how the emergence of a growing number of developing economies as important actors in the world economy might affect the Organisation: which problems and issues needed to be more fully integrated into OECD analysis and policy discussions and what modalities might be employed. The economies selected for inclusion in the study were those of Argentina, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia. Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.
3.
The report on this study ("The Major Developing Economies and the OECD") dated 16th May 1988 [SG/MDE/2], argued that the OECD/MDE relationship was increasingly moving out of the confines of the existing framework for intergovernmental co-operation and underlined the need for the Organisation to develop avenues for consultations with a range of major developing economies, especially the Asian NICs. A "variable geometry" approach, with modalities which vary according to the issues and economies involved, was suggested: policy-oriented country and/or issue studies; "rules of the game" discussions and OECD codes: liaison committee or committee observership: and informal contacts.
4.
It was
The newly established Working Party on Issues Related to Certain Developing Countries Outside the OECD Area lost no time in following up what the 1988 Ministerial meeting and, then, the Toronto Summit, indicated concerning discussions with the Newly Industrialised Economies (NIEs). felt that discussions involving these new important economic actors
recognising mutual interests and taking into account the diversity of the economies concerned could contribute to a better understanding and the convergence of views on policy co-operation for the continued growth of the world economy.
The Members of the Organisation agreed to propose an informal and exploratory dialogue not only to the four economies (Hong Kong, Korea. Singapore and Taiwan) which are customarily termed as NIEs, but also to two others (Malaysia and Thailand). Indeed, the aim was to engage in a dialogue with the economies which had exhibited particular dynamism in their market-oriented development.
B.
5.
An Informal Seminar held in January 1989
As a result, an Informal Seminar with Asian NIEs (a confidence building exercise) was held on 24th-25th January 1989 at the Organisation under joint sponsorship with the Institut Français des Relations Internationales. The aim of the Informal Seminar was to have an informal discussion of an exploratory
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