The OECD has officially appointed Mexico's former finance minister, Angel Gurria, as the next head of the institution.
Mr Gurria won the final round of a contest for the job on Friday against former Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka and will replace Donald Johnston as the OECD's secretary-general on June 1st, 2006.
Mr Gurria's appointment marks a symbolically significant departure for a free-market agency set up after World War Two and led until now by people from the world's richest countries.
"One of the principal tasks facing Mr Gurria ... will be to lead the organisation as it strengthens its activities against a background of increased economic interdependence both among OECD countries and between OECD and non-OECD countries," the organisation said in a statement.