PARIS, August 29. /TASS/. The leadership of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is positive about cooperation with Russia and its participation in the organization despite obstructions posed by a number of countries, Russian Economic Development and Trade Minister Maksim Oreshkin said after a meeting with the OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria.
"We participate in the organization’s committees and a number of other important processes. For this reason Mr. Gurria and yours truly reviewed all aspects of cooperation. We will be trying to gradually step up our interaction and identify areas where we may make progress. The main problem is certain countries block progress towards participation in our organization on a number of tracks, although we see the OECD chief and other officials are eager to cooperate with Russia more actively and see Russia among its members."
Oreshkin said that obstructions were posed by different countries and on different tracks.
"The names are easy to guess," Oreshkin said.
He recalled that although the process of its admission to the OECD was suspended several years ago Russia continued to introduce the best OECD practices. In March 2014 the OECD suspended the process of Russia’s admission after 18 years of negotiations. Alongside this the organization declared it was stepping up cooperation with Ukraine in accordance with a request from that country’s authorities for helping Ukraine country address state governance problems it encountered. The OECD’s statement followed an aggravation of the political situation in Ukraine.