Currently, NATO is one of the most important international organizations in the world. As a political and military alliance, it brings together 30 countries from Europe and North America to consult and cooperate on security and defense issues. NATO creates a unique bond between the two continents at political and security levels and can be called a strategic and tactical task force.
We are in a period when the two “black swans” – a term defined as an event or a process that causes irreversible and radical changes in the world economy and politics – of the coronavirus pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war are directly affecting world dynamics. Besides, there are other global issues to tackle such as climate change, the environment and carbon emissions, digitalization and cybersecurity, food security and the future of agriculture, energy security and transformation and global supply chain and logistics. All necessitate a strategic and tactical task force, just like NATO, for the global economy to curb threats and destruction.
To be precise, we need a NATO of the economy. Without a doubt, no one but the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) can create solutions for economic deadlocks. The OECD, as a continuation of the Marshall Plan, was established in 1961 not only as a “think-tank” for new global success stories and initiatives but also as a “do-tank” with its support to its member countries and stakeholders with statistical data and policy recommendations by which it guides global and sectoral standards and explains their rationale. Today, in the face of regional and global tensions represented by the two black swans, the OECD is now transforming into an effective strategic and tactical task force – let’s call it a “force-tank” – for the world economy and global trade.
OECD is obviously the NATO of the economy, as it produces strategy and tactics for 38 member countries, taking action in all economic areas, from energy security to food security, from logistics and transportation security to the future of the global climate and the earth. With this aspect, the OECD is working day and night to bring together Europe, North America, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific in a more inclusive world economy platform for the future of the world and humanity. The 38 member countries, including Turkey as a founding member, are cooperating intensively to create, protect and develop a global economic system focused on democracy, human rights, the market economy and fair trade rules.
The global economic system will go through the toughest challenges in its history in the fields of climate, carbon emissions, cybersecurity, the global financial system and global debt problem, energy and food security, fair trade rules and stability in global commodity prices. The OECD will be spending several intense years proposing solutions, policies, strategies and tactics for all these challenges. The international organization’s 60th anniversary new vision statement and global strategy road map point to important clues in this sense. For the future of the global economic system, do not forget to follow the OECD closely.
