Participants will have the opportunity to discuss their own country’s economy with an OECD economist working on their country, in informal breakout sessions. Please note that this session is organised by default for all participating country MPs. No additional registration is required.

This session will feature introductory remarks by the Secretary-General and by the Ambassador of Finland on the priorities guiding the 2026 OECD Ministerial Council Meeting (MCM), which will take place on 3-4 June on the theme of “Getting industrial policies right for open markets, growth and prosperity.” In 2026 the MCM will be chaired by Finland, with Korea and New Zealand as Vice-Chairs.

As countries increasingly seek to boost their competitiveness and reinforce economic security amid rising geopolitical uncertainty, industrial policies are playing a more prominent role in guiding structural change, enhancing technological capabilities, and strengthening productivity growth. Drawing on OECD evidence and analysis, this session will explore the different facets of industrial policies and provide guidance on how to make them coherent and effective.

Building on the foundations established in the first session, this session turns to the practical challenge of translating industrial strategy into industrial policy instruments and investment. It examines the variety of policy instruments available to governments and provides a framework to guide the design and implementation of industrial policies that can effectively correct market failures and crowd in private investment.

Recurring shocks and crises have contributed to reviving interest among governments for subsidies and other tools of industrial policy. Questions arise, however, in relation to what these policies mean for fair global competition in a context of growing trade tensions and increasing concentration of manufacturing activities in a few places. In this session, participants will discuss what we know of the global scope and scale of industrial subsidies and what their impacts might be on OECD countries and beyond.

National competitiveness depends on the performance of all a country’s regions—from its urban growth centres to its remote rural communities. However, not all regions and cities are contributing to economic growth to the same degree, nor are all residents benefiting. National policies for regional development and subnational economic development strategies seek to promote national competitiveness and reduce divides across regions. The renewed interest in industrial policy also brings opportunities to boost competitiveness and create economic opportunity and jobs across regions, including those that are seeking to transform their economies. This session will consider the state of regional divides in the OECD, and how a range of policies, including industrial policies, can be mobilised for left-behind places.

The past two decades have seen the world hit by a series of major shocks. Overall, the global economy has proven resilient so far, but high geopolitical tensions and the conflict in the Middle-East are once again testing this resilience. Looking beyond the short term, global growth prospects appear disappointing – mired by a trend productivity slowdown, weak business dynamism, population ageing, high public debt, rapid digital and technological transitions and climate change. New technologies bring hopes of reviving growth, but these benefits cannot be taken for granted. In these challenging times, reinforcing efforts on sound macro and structural policies will be crucial to strengthening economic growth and improving its resilience and longer-term sustainability.

Tim Gould from the IEA will provide an overview of recent trends in energy markets and investments, how these trends might evolve in the future in different scenarios, and the key implications of these trends for energy security, affordability, and sustainability. The presentation will reflect on the increasing importance of electricity in the energy system, as the world enters what the IEA is calling the Age of Electricity, the prospects for new low-emissions technologies in various sectors, the significance of the upcoming wave of Liquefied natural gas (LNG) that is coming to market, the shifting geography of energy consumption, and other developments that will have real operational consequences for energy policymakers.

OECD analysis and standards promote good governance, responsible mining, and circular economy principles to support sustainable critical mineral value chains, drawing on longstanding expertise in trade, investment, and environmental sustainability. The OECD Initiative on Critical Minerals for Sustainable Growth and Development builds on this foundation to help policy makers drive sustainable development and the energy transition.

Demographic change will have a profound impact on economic growth and pension systems. Assuming that productivity remains constant, the demographic transition will lead to a reduction in GDP per capita growth of 40%. Mobilising untapped labour resources by strengthening labour market participation among women and older workers, and sustaining labour migration, can help limit the impact on economic growth. To promote longer working lives, countries need to promote employability, healthy and fair workplaces for older workers, to complement the efforts they are making on pension policies. At the same time, there is a need to diversify the sources to finance retirement to make pensions systems more resilient and sustainable. Policy makers should promote asset-backed pensions (ABP) that complement pay-as-you-go (PAYG) defined benefit public pensions to increase retirement income. Population ageing also impacts ASB but through different mechanisms than PAYG public pensions. It does so through its impact on economic growth and its effect on investment returns, and through increase in life expectancy which creates potential problems of adequacy instead of fiscal constraints. Luckily, solutions exist.

OECD countries are operating in a challenging fiscal environment, marked by high debt levels and growing spending pressures linked to demographics, extreme weather events, defence needs and other commitments. Against this backdrop, this session will introduce the OECD’s new Fiscal Masterclass, a course designed to help elected members engage more confidently on fiscal topics in committees, in their interactions with the media and, ultimately, with their constituents.

This session is open only to MPs from OECD Accession countries. This session will brief the MPs on OECD accession processes and the role for parliaments. It will also provide an opportunity for peer-learning amongst legislators from both Accession countries and recent members of the OECD, where they will be able to exchange on experiences, lessons, and approaches.