G-20 y OCDE

G-20 and OECD

Created in 1999, the G-20 comprises the G-8 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) plus the European Union, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey. The G20 accounts for 90% of world GNP, 80% of global trade and two-thirds of the world's population.

Since its first meeting in Berlin in 1999, the G20 has emerged as a group of economic and financial authorities convening to improve coordination on growth policies, financial crisis management and the reduction of abuse and unlawful activities in the financial system. It also gives a voice to emerging countries whose size or strategic importance influences the globalised economy. It was in 2008, as a consequence of the global crisis, that the G-20 was constituted as a Summit of Heads of State, displacing the G-8 and the G8+5 as a forum for discussion of the world economy. Since then, fifteen extraordinary summits have been held in different venues. The latest took place in November 2020 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, following the G20 Summit held in Osaka, Japan, in 2019. Photo: Chema Moya / EFE

Spain is not a member of the G-20, although it has taken part in the Group's extraordinary summits and some ordinary meetings and is therefore considered a permanent guest. Spain's first participation in the G-20 took place at the extraordinary summit in November 2008 in Washington. Subsequently, Spain was officially invited to attend the extraordinary summit in London in April 2009. Following this participation, Spain consolidated its position in the G-20, as befits its political and economic weight in the international community.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an intergovernmental organisation based in Paris whose primary objectives are to promote economic development and cohesion. It was established in 1961 from the structure of the European Economic Cooperation Organisation, founded in 1948 and then created to administer the Marshall Plan funds donated by the United States. Its founding members were the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, France, Great Britain, Greece, the Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United States and Canada. The remaining members - currently 38 - have joined in stages. The OECD thus brings together the most prosperous countries in the world, accounting for at least 60% of the market and 70% of world GDP.

Pedro Sánchez, during the inauguration event of the Ministerial Meeting of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in October, 2020. Photo: J.M. Cuadrado / Moncloa Pool

Spain, a founding country and signatory of the convention establishing the OECD in 1961, has a permanent delegation at the institution's headquarters in Paris, which constitutes the link between the OECD and the Spanish administration and allows Spain to contribute its views to the working groups and management of the Organisation. Spain held the Presidency of the Organisation for two consecutive years, in 1973 and 1974.

G-20 and OECD

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