The Annual Meeting of Senior Officials from Centres of Government was organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and was attended by senior officials from 38 countries, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, of Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, UK and USA.  

The 2009 meeting of Senior Officials in charge of Centres of Government had two main objectives:

1. Assess the implications that managing the crisis has for Centres of Government, particularly with respect to their role, the way they operate and the capacities they need to deploy. Participants are asked to share their evaluation of how the initial months of the crisis have impacted Centres of Government and to identify how the OECD might help them in their efforts to adjust. The Secretary-General of the OECD will present the Organisation’s responses to the challenges posed by the crisis in which public governance plays a key role.  

2. Discuss the challenges that selecting and prioritising measures to stimulate the economy and long-term reforms pose to Centres of Government. How can they take advantage of the opportunities for reform created by the crisis? How can the overall coherence of policies and reforms be ensured? How can the Centres of Government position themselves in an exit strategy to overcome the crisis? How can coherence in actions taken by the central and sub-national authorities involved in measures and reforms be ensured? How can the Centres of Government respond effectively to the unprecedented international co-ordination which has been put in place to combat the crisis?   

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Meetings of Senior Officials from Centres of Government are held annually in the capitals of countries - members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and are devoted to the topics of common interest to heads of institutions providing direct support and advice to the government leaders, presidents or prime ministers. Participants of such meetings are usually heads of the offices of prime ministers, secretaries or secretaries general of the government of the countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development or the countries that have observer status in the OECD Public Administration Committee.  

Meetings of the Senior Officials from Centres of Government started in 1980, and in 1990 they were re-formatted into an annual event, representing a forum for private informal discussions.