PM for team work to get reframing recovery

Prime Minister Sanna Marin on Monday emphasised multilateral cooperation to get transformative recovery from the existing crisis.

“A transformative recovery will not be possible without multilateral cooperation. We need cooperation to agree on common goals and on the sharing of responsibilities. We need cooperation to exchange information about the best ways to tackle the crisis,” said Marin in her speech at the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the signing of the OECD Convention.

She said 2020 has been an exceptionally hard year and that the post-COVID-19 world will be different from the world before the pandemic.

The PM said certain megatrends have accelerated, such as digitalization, and several global challenges remain critical – especially climate change. Some of the longer-term effects of the COVID crisis are yet to be seen.

“I strongly believe that every crisis should be seen as an opportunity to evolve, to improve our policies and to become socially, economically, and environmentally more sustainable. We must not overlook this opportunity to change and to accelerate the green recovery. As governments, we can choose whether to sit on the passenger’s seat or to take action,” said the PM.

“The OECD is a good forum for this kind of cooperation,” said Marin.

“This organisation has stood the test of time and has provided evidence-based analysis and a platform for peer-learning for nearly 60 years. It is quite clear to me that if the OECD did not exist today, we would have to invent it,” she added.

She said, “Finland has been a loyal supporter of OECD’s valuable work during our membership of more than 50 years.

“… I want to express our gratitude for this cooperation that has helped Finland to become the highly advanced welfare society it is today,” said Marin.

She congratulated OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria, the secretariat, as well as all the member states and their OECD delegations in Paris and thanked French president Emmanuel Macron and prime minister Sanchez for co-hosting this event.