The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) promotes economic policy cooperation (including statistical analyses, forecasts, strategy development) between currently 38 member states from Europe, North and South America and the Asia-Pacific region; it also works with a number of partner countries. The OECD deals with a large number of policy areas that are closely related to economic development. The analyses are discussed in numerous committees with representatives of the member states and ultimately recommendations are derived. In the agricultural sector, the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (COAG) is the overarching body and the Working Party Agricultural Policies and Markets, the Joint Working Party on Agriculture and Trade and the Joint Working Party Agriculture and Environment are particularly active.
Depending on the specialist area, the BAB supports the specialist department of the BML as the Austrian representative in specialist committees (e.g. APM - Working Party on Agricultural Policies and Markets) or represents Austria itself in these working groups (JWPAE - Joint Working Party on Agriculture and the Environment, WPRUR - Working Party on Rural Policy, WPTI - Working Party on Territorial Indicators). As part of the OECD's ministerial trade mandate, the APM Working Party calculates the impact of policy measures in the agriculture and food sector on producers, consumers, taxpayers and the environment. The OECD specifies the necessary data and requests it from its member states according to the specified classification. The evaluation results are published in the form of the ‘Monitoring and Evaluation’ report or as part of the annual ‘Agricultural Outlook’. In addition, the JWPAE working group analyses current topics at the interface between agricultural and environmental policy, such as climate change, biodiversity and resource use, as part of OECD projects involving the member countries. The results in the form of publications, databases, indicators etc. are published on the OECD website.
Objective
The aim of the project is on the one hand
- the preparation and provision of specific data (e.g. public payments, regional statistics) in accordance with OECD and WTO requirements and, on the other hand
- to support the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Regions and Water Management (BML) in the relevant OECD working groups in the form of expert opinions and statements, to represent Austria in certain working groups and to support the exchange of knowledge between the BML and the OECD.
Status of the project
In 2024, data on public payments and regional statistics were prepared for the OECD Regional Database and transmitted to the OECD and European Commission (WTO data). In addition, depending on the working group, working papers were reviewed and statements drafted (e.g. Monitoring & Evaluation Report), expert reports were drafted in consultation with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, coordinated and submitted as contributions to discussions at the working group meetings. Participation in various OECD events (e.g. webinars of the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities) was a central part of the work in 2024.
The JWPAE delegates supported the OECD in the creation of the OECD database on policy instruments and measures to mitigate climate change in the AFOLU sectors and coordinated and implemented the data collection for Austrian policy instruments and measures in consultation with specialised departments of the BML and BMK. In addition, the delegates to the JWPAE took part in events organised by the OECD and its networks (e.g. ‘OECD technical workshop: The Environmental Impact of Agricultural Support: Current evidence and knowledge gaps’, IFCMA webinar ‘Taking stock of direct and indirect agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) mitigation policies’). As part of the 5th BAB Seminar, the JWPAE delegates presented selected work from this working group to a wider expert audience. The delegate to the WPRUR is part of the OECD expert group ‘Functional Areas’.
In 2024, the WPTI took part in both working group meetings and preparatory meetings and coordinated the annual collection of Austrian data for the OECD Regional Database - which is visualised and analysed in the publication ‘OECD Regions and Cities at a Glance 2024’ and the newly published ‘OECD Local Data Portal’, among other things. Technical national comments on the draft of the biennial publication ‘OECD Regions and Cities at a Glance’ were prepared and submitted to the OECD.
Work 2025
Joint Working Party on Agricultural policies and Markets (JWAPM):
The producer support measure (PSE) used by the OECD is an indicator of the annual monetary value of gross transfer payments to agricultural producers measured at the producer level (agricultural support measure). The measure is based on a consensus of the OECD member countries and is calculated at regular intervals at member country level. The OECD also requires data from the member countries in 2025. The BA for Agriculture and Mountain Farming supports the BML in this task by updating the federal and provincial funding data for 2024, processing it, allocating it according to the respective classifications and transmitting it to the BML. In addition, the BA again provides a descriptive description of the most important agricultural policy developments in 2024. Both the transmitted data and the description are the basis for the preparation of the OECD's annual ‘Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation Report’. In addition, cooperation takes place within the framework of the WPAPM. To this end, the specialised department of the BML sends working documents to the Federal Institute for review and comment as required. Occasionally it will also be necessary to participate in working group meetings or to contribute to OECD studies on specific topics. Depending on its requirements, the BML also obtains opinions and expertises from the FOPH on WTO-relevant topics.
Joint Working Party on Agriculture and the Environment (JWPAE):
In 2025, AOD delegates will participate in the working group meetings (two annual meetings are planned, plus ad hoc meetings as required). Depending on the planned content of the meetings and the available documents, own statements will be drafted or statements from the BML and BMK will be coordinated and forwarded to the OECD. The minutes drawn up by the AOD delegates following the meetings are forwarded to the BML, the BMK and the BMEIA (Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs). The delegates will also support the OECD in updating the database on policy instruments and measures to mitigate climate change in the AFOLU sectors. In addition, there is the opportunity to exchange information within the framework of other OECD networks and to participate in OECD seminars and workshops.
Working Party on Rural Policy (WPRUR) and Working Party on Territorial Indicators (WPTI):
The WPRUR and WPTI working groups are held as part of the Regional Development Policy Committee (RDPC) and will continue to pursue the goal of supporting the discussion and implementation of integrated and place-based policy measures in rural regions in 2025. In the WPRUR working group, the focus is on strengthening policy measures for the development of rural regions, particularly in the area of improved living conditions in rural regions, the role of social innovations and the definition of functional regions, which aim to improve the quality of life/well-being in rural regions. The WPTI working group carries out statistical work to measure the wider regional indicators and supports policy analysis and evaluation through sub-national statistics. Participation and collaboration in the two regular working group meetings is planned for 2025. The tasks include the transmission of reports from the OECD working groups to national authorities (BML, ÖROK, experts, etc.) and the reporting of data at a differentiated spatial level for the OECD Regional Database. The BAB coordinates the annual data collection and updating of regional indicators and transmits these to the OECD, where they are included in analyses and visualisations (e.g. Atlas of Regions and Cities, Regional Outlook, Local Data Portal).
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