Tuesday, February 17, 2009

OECD

Monday our class had session at the OECD, the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development. Our session was a general overview of the organization, and it was so far my favorite presentation we've been to. Generally the organization was formed as a forum to determine the distribution of aid under the Marshall Plan after World War Two. The OECD actually began as the OEEC, the Organization of European Economic Cooperation, but now it has evolved into a more international organization. It's newer mission is to promote development and the expansion of globalization through the world, but they also promote the sustainability of the economies of the member states. Many people call the OECD the "Rich Man's Club" as the organization is mostly comprised of the richest countries in the world. This is evident in a visit because the facility is incredibly fancy. We got fancy nametags that allowed us to pass through the security and the room where we had our session was very nice. The Speaker was very interesting, and he normally works in the media and publicity department, though he has some considerable experience with working with the post-Soviet bloc and the World Bank. He mostly outline the general history of the organization, but he also talked about its future as well. The future stuff is actually what interests me the most, particularly the expansion of membership. What's more is that the same speaker is coming to our Center on Wednesday to do a second session with us, on the day-to-day workings of the organizations, something I am very stoked to hear about due to my Model UN involvement.

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