Bulgaria is ready to start negotiations for membership in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva said at the OECD's annual ministerial meeting, which took place online.

For the first time, the candidate countries, including Bulgaria, were invited to participate in the most important annual forum of the organization, the Foreign Ministry said in a press release. The main topic of discussion was recovery of the world economy from the pandemic, as well as measures and instruments at the national and global levels to deal with the crisis. “The pandemic shows how economies of all countries are interdependant, Minister Zaharieva said and pointed out that in tackling the current crisis, we must not allow inequality to deepen.