Ukraine submits updated bid for OECD membership, Zelenskiy says

June 24 (Reuters) - President ‌Volodymyr Zelenskiy said ​on ​Tuesday that Ukraine had submitted a revised application to join the Organisation for Economic Co-operation ‌and Development (OECD), a club of mostly advanced economies, ⁠as Kyiv pursues closer integration with Western institutions.

Ukraine has been working ‌with the OECD on ‌reforms and governance standards for several years and is now seeking candidate-country status as a step towards full ​membership.

Zelenskiy, after meeting with Mathias Cormann, OECD's Secretary-General, on his visit to Kyiv, said in a Telegram ⁠post that Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko has submitted the updated bid.

"We hope to ​obtain candidate country status as early as this autumn. The next stage will be a ​roadmap toward OECD membership. We discussed ‌this during our meeting," Zelenskiy wrote.

Ukraine, in a full-scale war with Russia after Moscow's ⁠invasion in 2022, is actively pushing for European integration which Kyiv says is the best security guarantee both for itself ⁠and for Europe.

Last week, Zelenskiy reiterated Kyiv's desire for a fast-track EU ​membership.

Ukraine hopes to open the remaining negotiating clusters with the EU by July 15 when Ukraine marks its Statehood Day, Zelenskiy ‌said, according to a separate statement published by his office on Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir ‌Putin said on Tuesday that he did not see grounds ⁠for direct talks with ‌Zelenskiy given what ​he described as Kyiv's strikes on civilian targets.

(Reporting by Jekaterīna Golubkova in Tokyo; Editing by Sanjeev ‌Miglani)

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