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He said that, as a result of the accession process, the Latvian government has become more transparent, more open, has enacted stronger anti-corruption measures and is going to have independent boards for the 12 largest state-owned enterprises, and this was just the beginning of the many tangible and intangible benefits to Latvia from the OECD accession.

Speaking about tangible benefits, Frantz said that by participating in various tax committees and programs at the OECD Latvia is going to become more efficient in collecting taxes. This will bring benefits directly to the Treasury of Latvia, which in turn will help them fulfill their obligations to people in Latvia.

The OECD secretary general said that the measures to liberalize trade agreements, to impose stronger banking regulations were things that signaled to the outside investment world that it was a safe place to do business. ”Not that they feel like it’s an unsafe place now but I think that, going forward in future, Latvia will have the stamp of approval from the OECD in terms of tax policies, trade policies, investment policies. Those are things that will evolve over time. The more deeply you are involved in the OECD, the more you will able to take advantage of our reservoir of expertise,” he said.

”It’s a knowledge ocean, a giant library of very smart books and people, and instruments and practices, and now it is wide open to people of Latvia. Benefits will be enormous and I can guarantee that they outweigh the dues that Latvia will pay to the OECD,” Frantz said.

The OECD expertise will also help Latvia to deal with the issue of pensions, he said. ”There are new issues that arise and they are sometimes complicated issues, and we have enormous expertise at the OECD to help countries to understand the dynamics of new pension systems, the dynamics of caring for an ageing population both in terms of financial means and long-term health care needs,” the OECD secretary general said.

He is also confident about Latvia’s success in fighting corruption. ”What we have seen in the enthusiastic engagement of the Latvian government across many ministries and agencies is willingness to make the changes necessary to bring them into the very top ranks of the world countries in terms of anti-corruption, clean banking and clean government,” Franz said.

Latvia's membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is a certificate of quality that means compliance with high standards in entrepreneurship, investments environment and investments protection, opening new development opportunities for Latvian business representatives. Still, it depends on Latvia itself how well these opportunities will be used, said Latvian Economics Minister Arvils Aseradens (Unity) during the meeting with OECD Deputy Secretary General Douglas Frantz.

During the meeting, the officials discussed Latvia's further work with the OECD recommendations, implementation of structural reforms in areas important for Latvia's national economy, the Economics Ministry reported.

"It is important to be aware that the country's economic growth – improvement of business environment, promoting of competitiveness, curbing of shadow economy – is a joint work of the whole government and all state institutions, and not priorities of some separate institutions. Accession to the OECD opens broad opportunities to use international practice in solving different problems by taking over efficient solutions to strengthen balanced economic growth," said Aseradens.

Latvia's OECD membership will not only positively affect the country's credit rating, but will also promote growth of foreign direct investments, the ministry explained. It also provides for an opportunity to promote direct economic contacts with other OECD members that ensure 80% of the world's trade and investment volumes, including 21 EU member states and other economically significant partners, such as the US, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico.

The OECD Council on May 11 decided to invite Latvia to join the organization. The next step will be the signing of an agreement on the accession of the Republic of Latvia to the OECD and this will take place during the OECD's annual Ministerial Council Meeting in Paris on June 2. Following the signing and ratification of the agreement at the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia (the Latvian Parliament), Latvia will become a full-fledged OECD member state.