High level meetings of the Regional Development Policy Committee

Ministers responsible for regional and urban development and territorial reforms from around the world gathered in Marseille, France on 5-6 December 2013 to share good practices and future opportunities in three policy areas: effective public investment strategies, inclusive growth in cities and regions, and new frameworks for fitting policies to places.

Under the leadership of Ms Marylise Lebranchu, Minister of Reform of the State, Decentralisation, and the Civil Service of France, Mr Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General, and Vice-Chairs, Mr Manabu Sakai, Vice-Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan and Mr Alejandro Murat Hinojosa, Director of the National Worker’s Housing Fund Institute (INFONAVIT), who replaced Mr Jorge Carlos Ramírez Marín, Minister of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development of Mexico, this meeting, and the immediately preceding Fifth OECD Roundtable of Mayors and Ministers, contributed to rich and forward-looking policy debates around how cities and regions can contribute to national goals for inclusive and sustainable growth as well as help to restore trust in government.

The need for regional policy to help address urgent economic, social, and environmental challenges is offering renewed impetus for reform in a context of a major global downturn. The global economic crisis is affecting families and communities across the planet. With regions bearing the brunt of the crisis, affecting businesses, jobs and people generally, regional policies are very much part of the solution.

Ministers responsible for regional and territorial development from around the world gathered at the OECD on 31 March 2009 to discuss how countries can meet these challenges and how regional policy can support long-term growth.

Preceding the Ministerial, the Regional Policy Forum 'Global Crisis, Regional Responses' opened the floor to a diversity of key actors in the field of regional policy, including sub-national governments, business and financial sectors, education and research community, and NGOs. The Forum was organised into four roundtables, looking at different dimensions of regional policy.

This high-level meeting stressed the importance of competitive regions as the basis for national economic growth and social cohesion. Understanding why different regions perform differently and how their economic performance can be enhanced in coherence with other important policy objectives such as social cohesion and sustainable development is a priority for all Member countries. The economic importance of enhancing the accessibility and strengthening the functional linkages between rural regions and cities is now widely recognised.