The lecture of Professor Karel Dyba, the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) on the subject of "OECD – What It Does and How It Works in a Changing World" took place on 23 February 2010 in the Congress centre of the University of Finance and Administration attracting great interest of its students and staff.
In the first thematic bloc Professor Dyba talked about the position of the OECD in the changing world starting from the foundation of the organisation by the 20 original member countries of Western Europe, the USA, Canada and Turkey, through the 1960s and 70s when Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Finland joined and ending with the present situation with Mexico, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, South Korea, Slovakia and Chile as the most recent members. The accession process is under way with Israel, Estonia, Slovenia and – with some reservations – Russia. Strengthened cooperation is being developed with China, Brazil, South Africa, India and Indonesia.
The second part of the lecture was dedicated to current examples of the cooperation between the Czech Republic (member since 1995) and the OECD. It might be interesting to note that in 2009 during the Seminar on OECD tertiary education and expertise the OECD examiners visited the University of Finance and Administration to take part in expert discussion.
In the last bloc before the discussion Professor Karel Dyba focused on the OECD and the economic recession/ crisis pointing out that an extraordinary situation necessitates an extraordinary (individualized) fiscal stimulus; he discussed the fragile recovery of world economy, dealt with the restoration of balance in international trade by means of the revaluation of the Chinese currency and mentioned that inflation is not a danger.
In replying to the questions brought up in the discussion, which proved the attention of the students during the lecture, Professor Dyba showed both his deep understanding of the issue as well as his great wit.
The event was moderated by a Vice Rector of the University of Finance and Administration, Dr Petr Budinský.
Photos of the event
photos by Daniel Hamerník, DiS.
