Greece and the OECD agreed on Wednesday (11 February) to work together on reforms to the Greek economy, but Athens insisted it would not let outsiders decide what policies it should adopt.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has in the past provided Greece with a "tool kit" that essentially designs the reforms that have been required of Athens by international lenders.

"Our message to you Mr. Prime Minister is count on the OECD to support your reform program, your structural adjustment over time, some of these measures take time, some of these measures do not show results immediately," said OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria during a news conference with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

Gurria appeared to endorse some of Tsipras's criticisms of the bailout programme including low growth and high unemployment.

"The crisis produced low growth, produced high unemployment, and again Greece has suffered this very directly. It produced growing inequalities, and it produced a very serious erosion of trust. So we want to work with Greece in all those areas. We want to work with Greece in getting growth back not only on the books but also getting growth to the Greek citizens," Gurria said.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels, where Greece will present a demand for an end to its international bailout and a transition to a new debt deal, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Greece was committed to implementing reforms - but not those imposed by others.

"The new government has made a commitment to carry out reforms which the country really needs. To carry out reforms that the previous governments did not dare to carry out. And we can do this because we don't have a dependency on the past," said Tsipras.

Tsipras said his government would fight tax evasion, illegal trade, and corruption and go up against oligarchs, but this was something the country would do with its own determination and not with the imposition of other parties.

"The ability to do this has nothing to do with measures imposed by third parties, but it has to do with our own determination, and to oppose what was wrong and did not work in the last few years in our country. We are also aware of the need to have an efficient public sector and public administration. We want to do away with a state which favors relationships. This is not something that can be imposed on us from people from abroad. This has to do with our own decisions and determination," Tsipras added.

Tsipras and his leftist party won the elections after promising to negotiate a new debt deal with a troika of lenders, the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. On Wednesday, his government won a parliamentary confidence vote for its refusal to extend an international bailout.

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