Government approves plan to implement OECD’s suggestions

The recommendation included efforts against tax evasion, the promotion of new forms of business financing, developing an innovation promotion policy that will support young and innovative enterprises, integrating Lithuania’s energy, railway and gas networks with European grids, and enhancing active labour market programs.

“Politically, it is a crucial issue for us – joining the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and fully-fledged membership in 2018 is the Lithuanian objective shaped by the government. Today we gave our final approval to the plan of joining the organization. It stipulates the measures to be implemented by individual ministries, and we expect that it will be implemented in time,” Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius told journalists after the government’s meeting.

Drafted by the OECD, the economic review of Lithuania covers a number of areas including fiscal and financial policies, improvement of productivity, integration growth, social security, etc.

The prime minister has said that Lithuania should speed up the restructuring of forestries in order to join OECD in 2018.

Lithuania was invited to open OECD membership talks in 2015, falling behind its neighboring European Union (EU) nations in the accession process. Poland joined the organization in 1996, Estonia entered in 2010 and Latvia became a member earlier this year.