Lithuania officially starts path towards OECD membership

Lithuania started the official process of the accession to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Lithuanian foreign ministry announced on Monday.

According to the ministry, the process started with an adoption of the roadmap which sets out the terms, conditions and processes for Lithuania's accession. Some 34 members of the OECD adopted the document on July 8, three months after taking decision to open accession discussions with Lithuania.

Linas Linkevicius, Lithuanian foreign minister, said the country's authorities are fully prepared for the accession process.

"Lithuanian ministries in charge have already shared the tasks, so we expect the accession to be smooth," said Linkevicius in a press release.

Algirdas Butkevicius, Lithuanian prime minister, expects the country to benefit from the OECD membership.

"As our country becomes a member of this influential organization, the accessibility of markets outside the European Union will increase, investors' confidence will grow, the improvement of the country's governance and service quality will continue," said Butkevicius in an announcement.

At the first stage of the process, Lithuania will have to set out its position on around 260 OECD legal instruments. Afterwards, OECD experts are to conduct a series of technical reviews.

The accession deadline hasn't been set out, since the final accession will depend on the candidate country's adjustment to meet the Organization's standards.

Lithuanian officials had earlier said they expected the accession process to last for 1.5 or 2 years, hinting on possible OECD membership in 2017. Enditem