After a year-long ratification process, on Tuesday 25 May, 2021, Costa Rica officially joined the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), becoming its 38th Member Country.
Becoming a member of the OECD will certainly have a positive impact on Costa Rica´s investment climate, offering a pathway for the reactivation and recovery of its economy post-COVID.
The Paris-based OECD promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people worldwide. It provides a forum where governments can work together to share experiences and seek solutions to the economic, social and governance challenges they face.
Costa Rica was originally invited to join the OECD in 2020, though the process began way back in 2015. To gain acceptance and become a ratified member, the country undertook the extensive technical reviews from the 22 OECD Committees. These covered a wide range of policies and included; a comprehensive reform of competition policy and enforcement, a redesign of the national statistics system, the introduction of criminal liability of legal persons for foreign bribery, and the establishment of a register of shareholders to ensure tax transparency.
These reforms allowed Costa Rica to fully align its legislation, policies and practices with the OECD´s standards for: competition, statistics, bribery, corporate governance of state-owned enterprises, financial markets, fiscal transparency and industrial chemicals management.
Costa Rica is just the fourth Latin American country to achieve membership, joining Mexico, Chile and Colombia.
Welcoming the news, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said: “We are delighted to welcome Costa Rica into the OECD family at a time when multilateralism is more important than ever. We have been impressed that the cross-party commitment to OECD accession that we witnessed during the accession process continued into the ratification phase, despite the pandemic. This reflects the importance of working together for designing and implementing better policies, and Costa Rica will no doubt represent a new beacon for the OECD in the region.”
Auxadi celebrates with Costa Rica.
Manrique Blen, Auxadi’s Director of International Corporations, based in Costa Rica, said: “This is a very exciting achievement for Costa Rica. This makes clear that, as a country, we have what it takes to be a global reference for multi-country companies.”
Costa Rica is the gate that connects USA and LATAM. Widely recognised for the quality of its workforce, its economic sustainability, dynamic business sector, and the peace and stability enjoyed for over sixty years, Costa Rica is a country of opportunities.
Being an OECD member brings additional credibility, recognition, and global standard practices to a country that already holds the reputation of one of Latin America’s most favoured investment destinations.
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Founded in 1979, Auxadi is a family-owned business working for multinational corporations, private equity funds and real estate funds. It’s the leading firm in international accounting, tax compliance and payroll services management connecting Europe and the Americas with the rest of the world, offering services in 50 countries. Its client list includes many of the top 100 PERE companies. Headquartered in Madrid, with offices in US and further 22 international subsidiaries, Auxadi serves 1,500+ SPVs across 50 jurisdictions.
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