The Ministry of Economy and Industry is among the most involved institutions in the process of Bulgaria’s accession to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The responsibilities of the MEI relate to corporate governance, trade and consumer policy. This was stated by Deputy Minister of Economy and Industry Nikolay Pavlov during the opening of the forum ‘Sustainable Development and Business Integrity: A forum for policy debate and practical solutions’. Pavlov stressed the importance of Bulgaria’s decision to join the OECD.
Today’s forum was attended by Francois Valerian, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Transparency International, representatives of the executive branch, NGOs, academia, business, financial sector, international experts and others. The event is organized by Transparency International and Transparency International and has the institutional support of the Ministry of Economy and Industry.
Among the topics of the forum were business integrity in the context of ESG standards (environmental, social and governance data) and the new European sustainability reporting norms, as well as the practical implementation of good governance standards.
According to Deputy Minister Pavlov’s, Bulgaria will participate on an equal footing with the other member states in setting standards in key areas. ‘In the process of the OECD accession talks, the Ministry of Economic Affairs has a leading role on 4 and partnering functions on 9 out of 25 technical reviews of Bulgaria by the thematic committees of the organisation’, he said.
Deputy Minister Pavlov stressed that our country’s accession to the OECD is a major national priority, which is not influenced by the dynamics of the domestic political context and receives consistent political support from all governments and parliaments. ‘This is a solution for the future, for a modern, sustainable, prosperous society that functions in a stable market economy and democratic governance’, Deputy Minister Pavlov said.
During the conference, the Deputy Minister of Economy recalled that Bulgaria’s Initial Memorandum covers self-assessments of the conformity of national legislation, policies and practices under 252 OECD legal instruments. ‘70 of these self-assessments were prepared by the Ministry of Economy and Industry’, he added.