OECD Body Adopts Green Growth Declaration
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) adopted a declaration on green growth during a South Korea-chaired ministerial council meeting in Paris, Thursday.
This is the first time that the council adopted the declaration and ministerial conclusions based on an agreement among member states.
The adoption of the declaration is particularly meaningful to South Korea, which has been seeking environment-friendly policies.
``It is meaningful that both OECD-member states and non-member countries support green growth, which South Korea has promoted as new paradigm for economic growth,'' said Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, who holds the rotating chairman post in the council.
The declaration said participating countries promised to strengthen their efforts to pursue green growth strategies as part of their response to the current crisis and beyond, acknowledging that ``green'' and ``growth'' can go hand-in-hand.
Ministers from 40 countries including Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, which represent 80 percent of the world economy, took part in the meeting.
The declaration also encourages green investment and sustainable management of natural resources.
The member countries also said they encourage domestic policy reform with the aim of avoiding or removing environmentally harmful policies that might thwart green growth.
``It is ensuring employment in this time of high unemployment. But also, with this declaration, they are saying very strongly that they can do this and also achieve green growth,'' said Helen Mountford, head of climate change, natural resources & outlooks division under OECD Environment Directorate.
``They can mix both economic recovery with high employment and green growth,'' the official added.
In the meantime, they affirmed that they support previous OECD accords and other international pacts to boost economic cooperation through the ministerial conclusions.
After the council meeting, Prime Minister Han held a dinner party dubbed ``Korea Night'' to mark his acceptance of the chairmanship.