Two years after Israel joined the OECD, Sharon Kedmi, Director General at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, is leading a delegation to an important OECD Employment Labour and Social Affairs Committee meeting on 26 October. He spoke with the OECD Observer.

Innovation is a major driver of productivity, economic growth and development. Many OECD countries today are looking to boost productivity through investments in science, technology and R&D. What experience can Israel, new OECD member and the “start-up nation” feted in a recent book by Dan Senor and Saul Singer, bring to the table?

Israel’s labour market is a reflection of the country’s complicated demographic patchwork. This brings strengths and weaknesses.

Israel is a popular holiday destination, thanks to cultural and historical, but also leisure, attractions. But there are challenges to overcome.

In many respects Israel’s short but dramatic history has created a combination of economic, social, demographic and political circumstances without close parallel with any other OECD member country. Some of these characteristics are outlined here, and are explored in more depth in the OECD’s first Economic Survey of Israel, published in 2010.

A year ago, at the 2010 OECD Ministerial Council Meeting, Israel was formally invited to become a member of the OECD, following three years of accession negotiations. Israel duly became the organisation’s 33^rd member country a few months later, in September 2010. The OECD Observer asked the minister of finance, Yuval Steinitz, to outline his views on the country’s economic challenges.

What can countries looking to put their public finances in order learn from Israel, which joined the OECD in 2010? Quite a lot, says the country’s central bank governor, who provides some good reasons for optimism.