Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan is scheduled to participate in the Ministerial Council Meeting of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in the French capital Paris, according to a statement from the ministry released yesterday. The theme of the meeting this year is "Harnessing digital transition for sustainable development: opportunities and challenges."

Minister Pekcan will attend the session titled "Reaping and Diversifying the Benefits of Trade in the Digital Era" tomorrow. The session will discuss how digital technologies and overseas data flow cut costs and facilitate participation in global value chains.

The trade minister is also scheduled to attend the meeting on the national regulations on services for which negotiations continue under the leadership of a group of World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries, including Turkey. Pekcan will also meet her South Korean counterpart Yoo Myunghee.

The annual Ministerial Council Meeting of the OECD welcomes finance, economy, foreign affairs, trade and other relevant ministers from 36 member states in addition to high-level representatives from international organizations.

This year's meeting, to be chaired by Slovakia and co-chaired by Canada and South Korea, will discuss domestic and international public policies that can fully harness the great potential of digitalization and address its disruptive effects in areas such as competition, taxation, data governance, skills, inclusive growth, environment and trade.