The Bulgarian government is accelerating the preparations for membership in the OECD.

On June 11, 2025, a meeting of the Interdepartmental Coordination Mechanism (ICM) on Bulgaria's accession to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, chaired by Minister Georg Georgiev.

Minister Georgiev defined Bulgaria's accession to the OECD as a strategic national priority, the realization of which will have a direct positive impact on the country's economic and social development. He noted the significant progress made in preparing Bulgaria for membership, which is now in the final stages. The Minister expressed gratitude to the state institutions in the ICM for their commitment to the successful completion of the technical reviews on accession, as well as to the OECD Secretariat for the active cooperation.

The Bulgarian Foreign Minister informed the ICM members of the conversations he had held with the OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann in Paris. He confirmed the government's political ambition to complete the preparation as soon as possible in order to receive an invitation for membership in 2026. In this regard, the Minister emphasized the need to maintain maximum mobilization of Bulgarian efforts to fulfill the remaining requirements and recommendations of the OECD.

The OECD Secretariat delegation highly appreciated the progress achieved so far and Bulgaria's commitment. It was agreed that with full mobilization of efforts, there is a real possibility of completing the implementation of the OECD recommendations by 2025.

The OECD Secretariat delegation is on a two-day working visit to Sofia. The program of the visit includes meetings with the coordination team at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bulgarian state institutions, as well as in the National Assembly with the recently established Subcommittee for supporting the process of Bulgaria's accession to the OECD.