The OECD Global Parliamentary Network held a meeting on 1 October 2015, featuring discussions with Senior Officials from the OECD on topics that are pertinent to legislators worldwide. The Parliamentary Network on the World Bank & IMF was there to report on the day’s proceedings, as the sessions were informative and allowed ample opportunity for MPs to engage with the OECD and its most cutting edge research.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría gave a brief presentation on the current state of global economic affairs, including the recently-approved SDGs’ negotiations which took place in New York City the days prior. Mr. Gurría also highlighted the challenges and opportunities for OECD Member States, such as foreign bribery and international tax cooperation, climate change, and migration, all of which were sessions during the 1 October meeting. The MPs present had a lengthy discussion section with the Secretary-General, looking to engage further on the topics of inequality, migration protectionism, and the Base Erosion Profit Shifting (BEPS) programme from the OECD.

Drago Kos, Chair of the OECD Working Group on Bribery, presented the history of the OECD’s work on bribery, which began in 1997 and has continued to do dynamic work ever since. The most recent Foreign Bribery Report documented bribery from 1999 to 2014, noting that public officials from countries with high to very high levels of human development were perpetrators of this activity almost half of the time. Further, bribes were paid most frequently to obtain public procurement contracts, underscoring the need for parliamentary oversight to combat obvious cases of foreign bribery.

Simon Buckle, Head of the Climate Biodiversity and Water Division at the OECD Environment Directorate, gave a broad overview of what the Directorate believes to be success at COP21 in Paris during November-December 2015. Not only is an enforceable treaty necessary according to Mr. Buckle, but also creating a ‘bottom-up’ process to reconcile the outlined goals of the agreement with the implementation process. Further, success would constitute an agreement which gives commitments of USD 100 billion a year by 2020 from developed countries and measures to ensure more enabling environments to allow climate action enforcement to take place. The MPs discussed their role in approving legislation to incentivize a ‘zero-carbon pathway’ in line with the goals and objectives of the OECD and other international organizations. They noted that their constituents could be victim to this necessary change, highlighting advocacy and initiatives which facilitate a ‘win-win’ environment for those who will make the concrete transition from the current climate change mitigation regime to the one which the global economy will have in the near future.

There was a very interactive session regarding international migration, which featured MPs from migratory-affected states and MPs who have seen a loss of human capital due to such migration patterns. A presentation was given by Jean-Christophe Dumont, Head of the International Migration Division, where he highlighted misconceptions and realities of international migratory flows into OECD Member States. Most notably, migration flows into OECD Member States is varied across countries of the globe, where 9 countries (Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, Eritrea, Nigeria, Somalia) represent approximately 65% of such flows. Recipient countries of migrants such as Austria, Hungary and Sweden have seen the largest increase of flows from 2012 to 2014. Further, Germany has been the largest recipient of migrants among OECD countries since 2013. The session featured discussion between MPs and Mr. Dumont, looking to understand what they can do in order to help turn the tragedy of war and population displacement into net positives for the recipient countries and the incoming migrants. Mr. Dumont advised the MPs to continue to disseminate correct information and dispel myths about migrants, as their benefit to the recipient society is economically positive and should be welcomed.

The OECD Global Parliamentary Network reported that 43 MPs and 21 parliamentary officials from 22 countries were represented at the 1 October meeting. It allowed the OECD to present its findings in facilitating the legislative work of MPs around the globe. The Parliamentary Network on the World Bank & IMF looks forward to continuing its engagement with the OECD Global Parliamentary Network on matters of mutual interest pertaining to international development.