Bulgaria will start negotiations for membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), together with 5 other countries. The decision by the Council of the organization was taken on January 25 and announced by the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which declared that OECD membership is one of the main foreign policy priorities for Bulgaria, on which there is a broad socio-political consensus and in respect to which strong institutional consistency is present.

The Ministry of Environment and Water (MOEW) commends the progress since the start of the accession negotiations, as the OECD is the world’s leading organization for environmental standards. Since August last year, the MOEW has been a member of the organization’s Environmental Policy Committee, the status was acquired after the MOEW joined the high environmental standards of the organization. The acquisition of the status enabled the MOEW to fully participate in determining the political course and to exchange valuable experience and good practices with other countries in the field of environment.

Bulgaria has already acceded to 26 OECD environmental standards. In the summer of 2021, the MOEW joined 13 other instruments, including recommendations for integrated pollution prevention and control, indicators and information on the environment, strengthening noise reduction policies, environment and tourism, principles for transborder pollution, application of the-polluter-pays principle, prevention and response to chemical accidents. The government is expected to approve the MOEW proposal to join 17 other instruments.

Along with Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Brazil, Argentina, and Peru are currently candidates for OECD membership.