Providing colorful, detailed and newsworthy responses to questions, Angel Gurria, Secretary General of the OECD, met once again with a dozen of us over breakfast at his Paris headquarters May 19, focusing mainly on the world economic crisis, and notably Europe.
Gurria noted that, while China and the U.S. were experiencing recovery, China growing by 11%, the outlook for Europe was mediocre, marked by continuing high unemployment and government deficits, amid prospects for growing protectionism worldwide.
Commenting on speculation that the euro might be abandoned by Greece and possibly other EU members, he praised the euro’s role among EU members as “positive.” But he warned that the euro zone still lacked effective mechanisms for surveillance and control over governmental behavior on economic and financial fronts, and credible capacity for anticipating future crises. New models for economic growth, notably for Greece, are also needed, he urged.
Gurria also explained why and how membership of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development now stood at 34 governments; and that six were partners seeking full membership: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa.
Providing insights to upcoming world economic meetings, including the next G20 summit in June, Gurria said that he would be raising these and other points at the upcoming meeting of the annual OECD forum and ministerial council meetings in Paris May 26-28. Details for those interested in attending are available at www.oecd.org/oecdweek
Axel Krause