The United Nations Development Program affirmed its commitment to keeping pace with anti-corruption efforts and promoting good governance in countries of the Arab region and the world.
The representative of the United Nations Development Program, Ghamar Deeb, said during the official inaguration of the activities of the high-level regional meeting held by the Arab Network for Promoting Integrity and Anti-Corruption: ‘We appreciate Iraq’s efforts in hosting this high-level regional meeting and the efforts of the Integrity Commission within the framework of its support for the Arab Anti-Corruption Network and with the support of the Korean Agency for international cooperation within the framework of its regional partnership with this program, as this framework constitutes a major cooperation station in the path of regional and international cooperation and support for the Arab region in the field of good governance, because integrity, transparency and accountability are among the necessities and conditions for
legal work in combating corruption and achieving sustainable development.
He added, “The United Nations Development Program is committed to keeping pace with anti-corruption efforts, and this commitment is not new, but goes back decades, in which it developed and implemented several programs to enhance good governance in various parts of the world, including the regional program to combat corruption and promote integrity in Arab countries, which it launched in 2010, and is now in its third phase, where it continues thanks to the support of our partners in the Korea International Cooperation Agency, our partners in the Arab countries, and donors, including the European Union (the Netherlands, Denmark, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, and others).
The UN official stressed that ‘the regional program works for three basic goals, which are’ supporting alignment with the requirements of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, integrating corruption risk management mechanisms at
the sectoral level, and supporting regional networks and institutions concerned with enhancing integrity and combating corruption in order to contribute to achieving development goals. This is in parallel with the regional work carried out by the United Nations Development Programme, where national projects specialized in supporting the fight against corruption have expanded in recent years, as well as in the Arab region, where the number of its Arab offices in this region working to implement such projects before 2010 has increased to eight offices in 2024 and the number is likely to increase.’
He explained, “This is not due to the growing problem of corruption, but rather the growing joint commitment to confronting the problem and the firm conviction that sustainable development cannot be achieved without diligent work to strengthen good governance and its components.
Source: National Iraqi News Agency