The [International Bar Association](http://www.ibanet.org/) (IBA) has announced that it has committed to extend collaboration with the [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ](http://www.oecd.org/)(OECD) on improving legal frameworks, expertise, and development across a number of sectors. Sectors highlighted include employment, energy, environment and natural resources, financial services, migration, trade and investment, and the rule of law and democratic values.

Among the projects detailed, the IBA will assist in training initiatives and drafting guidelines for the G20 High-level Principles on Financial Consumer Protection, contribute to the OECD policy-making process, and promote the standard-setting role of the OECD with legal practitioners worldwide, while the OECD will participate in the IBA Human Rights Institute Task Force on Illicit Financial Flows, Poverty and Human Rights, in IBA conferences and other briefings and consultations with the legal profession, and in joint fact-finding missions and reports.

These commitments build on the successful partnership already established, above all in anti-corruption work, where the two organisations have combined to drive awareness and standards, and to heighten the legal profession’s focus on the contribution it can make to identifying and removing corruption from transactions in both domestic and international contexts.

IBA President Akira Kawamura says, *”We are delighted to extend this important partnership in order to combine and maximise the resources both organisations are devoting to improve economic activity and justice in a number of areas. Equally, the IBA, OECD and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime will continue to develop our Anti-Corruption Strategy for the Legal Profession into a more permanent programme for the legal sector, and work to promote best practices, academic modules and guidelines in the field of anti-corruption.”*

The OECD’s Director of Legal Affairs, Nicola Bonucci, says *”OECD and IBA are global voices in an increasingly complex and interdependent world. Today’s signing is the recognition of what each institution can bring to each other: the IBA expertise is welcomed by the OECD while the IBA will raise the awareness of the legal profession on OECD work and standards.”*

The announcement was made on Tuesday 9 October 2012 at the OECD headquarters in Paris, where OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría and Mr Kawamura signed a memorandum of understanding to formalise the relationship between the OECD and the IBA.