(Communicated by the Ministry of Finance, Chief Economist Department)

The Israel Government Companies Authority (IGCA) held a joint conference, on February 27, with the OECD delegation in Israel on the subject of the appointment and evaluation of state-owned enterprise (SOE) directors in Israel and in Europe. Participants in the conference included Ministry of Finance Director General Yael Andorn, IGCA Director Udi Yogev and senior OECD consultant and former head of the OECD Corporate Finance Division Robert Ley, as well as representatives of the IGCA and of the British and Finnish government company authorities. The conference was also attended by tens of chairmen of Israeli government companies.
  
The participants discussed the experience of OECD member states on the subject of directors and boards of directors in SOEs, the prevailing practice in this area in OECD countries, and the steps Israel must take to improve corporate governance in SOEs in general, and specifically regarding the appointment and evaluation of directors in order to meet OECD standards.
   
The IGCA representatives described recent steps that were taken to divorce SOEs from politics, to improve the quality of the directors and to strengthen management. Particular mention was made of the establishment of a select cadre of directors, a plan promoted by Minister of Finance Yair Lapid that is currently being implemented in a transparent manner and based on uniform criteria. In addition, the formulation of a professional procedure for evaluating the performance of boards of directors was also mentioned.
  
The OECD representatives noted that the recent steps taken by the IGCA are significant and bring Israel closer to the accepted OECD norms. Moreover, they will contribute to increasing the professionalism and autonomy of directors in Israeli SOEs.
  
IGCA Director Uri Yogev said: "We are about to complete the placement of the cadre of directors, and we will begin obtaining the ministers' approval for the appointment of the new directors already next month. Having professional and independent boards in the companies will reduce the costs of the upcoming reforms in the postal and port services and in other areas, to Israel's citizens."

OECD consultant and former head of the OECD Corporate Finance Division Robert Ley said: "We are pleased to see that in planning the reforms which it is implementing, Israel has based itself on the practices that were developed by the OECD."
  
Israeli Deputy Ambassador to the OECD and Ministry of Finance representative Ilan Sosnitsky said: "A key objective of our being full members of the OECD is to leverage this membership for the purpose of implementing economic policy steps and structural reforms in the economy."