Fili’s world

It seems that for the first time since 1995 the OECD might accept new members next week and both China and Israel are mentioned as candidates.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), is an international organisation of those developed countries that accept the principles of representative democracy and a free market economy.

The organization provides a setting where governments can compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practice and co-ordinate domestic and international policies. The mandate of the OECD is very broad, as it covers all economic, environmental and social issues.
(from Wikipedia)

Haaretz reports with “Israel will join OECD next week, predicts Finance Ministry“ :

Israel has a very good chance of being voted into the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development next week. The finance ministers of the 30 OECD countries are meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday next week in Paris and are expected to vote in favor of the proposal. Washington for one has expressed its support.

The list of candidates seeking to join the OECD includes Chile, Brazil, Russia, China, India, South Africa, Cyprus, and European countries that have recently joined the European Union. The organization last expanded its membership in 1995. [...]

“We have been firing all the guns at our disposal, as it were, for a long time, to persuade the OECD members to support us,” Brook said. “First and foremost was the super-cannon, Bank of Israel governor Stanley Fischer.” [...]

If accepted, Israel will officially join a group of the most developed countries in the world, and be a part of all that this entails economically, both internally and externally. 

OECD membership is a bona fide stamp of quality for investment houses, foreign investors, international credit rating firms, economic organizations and companies. Membership in the group will require Israel (and in fact already does) to follow international rules and standards, and will help the treasury in promoting economic reforms. 

What about China? I image they would have some difficulties with “democracy” but after the WTO, they don’t even seem that interested.