President Volodymyr Zelensky.Image: keystone
June 24, 2026, 02:38June 24, 2026, 02:38
Ukraine hopes to gain candidate status for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in the autumn. “Ukraine’s membership in the OECD is very important to us,” wrote President Volodymyr Zelenskyj on social media after a meeting with the organization’s Secretary General, Mathias Cormann. Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko submitted an updated application.
I met with the Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, @MathiasCormann. Ukraine’s membership in the OECD is very important to us. And today, we are taking a step in this direction – the Prime Minister submitted Ukraine’s official updated… pic.twitter.com/TwaXBfg5xH
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 23, 2026
The OECD published three reports on Ukraine assessing the situation in the areas of infrastructure, public administration and justice. These reports show a country “carrying out reforms in real time and bringing its institutions closer to the standards shared by the world’s advanced free-market democracies,” Cormann said, according to a statement from the organization.
Kyiv had already applied for OECD membership in 2022. Even before the Russian attack in 2022, Ukraine was the poorest country in Europe, according to statistics from the International Monetary Fund. The Paris-based OECD brings together countries that are committed to democracy and a market economy. For example, the organization’s experts regularly prepare economic forecasts. (sda/dpa)