The OECD's mission is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. To this end, the OECD is focused on helping governments around the world to:
The OECD's governing body is the OECD Council. The Council meets at ministerial level once a year to discuss key issues and set priorities for OECD work. There are more than 300 committees, working groups and expert groups covering different work in the areas such as education, finance, trade, environment and development.
When the OECD was established in 1961, its membership comprised 20 countries in Western Europe and North America: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, the UK and the US. They have subsequently been joined by Japan, Finland, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, the Czech Republic, Korea, Poland, Hungary, the Slovak Republic, Chile, Slovenia, Israel, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Colombia and Costa Rica. It now has a total of 38 members.
Hong Kong, China is a Participant of the OECD's Trade Committee and the Committee on Financial Markets. We participated in the two OECD Committees since 1994 and 1995 respectively, and continue our participation after 1 July 1997 under the name of "Hong Kong, China". We have contributed to and benefited from the work of these two Committees. Besides attending meetings of the Trade Committee and its Working Party, Hong Kong, China participates in the Trade Session of the annual OECD Ministerial Council Meeting. Hong Kong, China also attends meetings conducted jointly by the Trade Committee and other OECD committees on trade-related issues such as trade and environment.
We benefit from the high quality research and studies undertaken by the OECD, which provide us with sound and analytical bases for policy formulation. It also provides us with a useful platform for sharing information and views on evolving trade issues.