On May 11, the Council of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development unanimously reached a decision to invite Latvia as its 35th member, confirming the Baltic nation has met all conditions for membership.

Latvia will sign its accession agreement during the OECD’s annual ministerial council meeting in Paris on June 2, after which it will become a full-fledged member.

“We have covered a distance comparable to a marathon and earned our right to belong to ‘the club of best practices,’” said Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics. “As an OECD member, Lativia will work with the most developed economies to address major global challenges that directly affect domestic politics.”

The country with 2 million people on the northeastern edge of Europe is a member of the European Union, NATO, the Council of Europe, the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Latvia is a democratic parliamentary republic established in 1918. Its capital is Riga -- the European Capital of Culture in 2014 -- and its language is Latvian -- one of two surviving Baltic languages along with Lithuanian.

Joining the OECD has been a long-cherished goal of Latvia, a high-income country since 2014.

“Latvia will make great contributions to the OECD through effective and innovative public policies, and its membership will support Latvia’s efforts to improve its citizens’ lives,” OCED Secretary-General Angel Gurria told media last week.

Marten Kokk, dean of the OECD’s governing council, said, “Latvia has implemented wide-ranging structural reforms to establish a modern market economy after it restored its independence from Soviet Union in 1991. Joining the OECD is an important acknowledgement of these efforts after it joined the European Union in 2004 and the Eurozone in 2014.”

Following accession, Riga will benefit from the organization’s expertise and experience, raising the prospect of improving its national economy and living standards.

“Our membership does not guarantee prosperity. It is our own responsibility to ensure we use our membership to maximize advantages,” Rinkevics stressed.

During the last three years of accession discussions, Latvia was evaluated on its ability to implement OECD legal instruments as well as its national policies and practices compared to the OECD.

According to the Latvian government, the accession process itself can be a “catalyst for reforms” and provide support for domestic policy agendas. As part of membership, Riga has agreed to liberalize investment incentives to OECD members, improve corporate governance of state-owned enterprises and strengthen regulations against money-laundering.

Latvia’s current priorities are in line with the OECD’s agenda, namely, reducing inequality, promoting international trade and investment, fostering innovation, fighting corruption, and improving education, health and labor policies, according to the embassy. Another Baltic neighbor Estonia joined the OECD in 2010, and Lithuania is undergoing its accession process.

By Joel Lee (joel@heraldcorp.com)