Italian finance minister promotes Israel's bid to join OECD
Giulio Tremonti, Italy's finance minister, promised Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom that he would work to include Israel in the OECD, over which his country is currently presiding.
The 30 members of the organization are scheduled to convene in May of this year in order to vote on a number of proposals, one of them being Israel's nomination. Shalom said at a convention in Venice that if Israel is voted in it would "place the state in the ranks of the world's most economically successful nations". (Roni Sofer)
