Seventeen Asian nations adopt plan to fight corruption
Seventeen Asian nations adopt plan to fight corruption
Ryan Nakashima, Agence France-Presse, Tokyo
Seventeen Asian nations adopted a legally non-binding plan on
Friday to fight corruption, which they said was widespread in the
region and hampered economic growth and poverty reduction
efforts.
The plan advocates civil service, private business and public
awareness action designed to help halt the supply and demand for
bribery in publicly funded projects.
Implementation of the plan is to be reviewed at annual
meetings, to which each signatory government in the region is to
report on their progress.
The agreement came at the end of a three-day anti-corruption
conference, the third annual such meeting held by the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) and the Organization for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD).
"Corruption imposes a costly burden on businesses, with
negative implications on growth and the creation of jobs," Shoji
Nishimoto, the director of the ADB's strategy and policy
department told reporters at the end of the gathering.
"Governments must act against corruption to promote growth and
development," he said.
He added countries that adopt the anti-corruption plan were
likely to get favourable treatment when it comes to allocating
ADB assistance.
Mark Pieth, president of the OECD's working group on bribery
in international business transactions, said the annual scale of
corruption equalled the illicit drug trade.
Pieth said its elimination would help fight terrorist groups
that thrive on such transactions. "If we can reduce corruption,
we can reduce the likelihood of terrorism," he said.
The countries that endorsed the action plan are Bangladesh,
the Cook Islands, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, the
Kyrgyz Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New
Guinea, the Philippines, Samoa, Singapore and Vanuatu.
China, where corruption at all levels of government is a
problem, and which earlier this month was accepted into the World
Trade Organization after a 15-year struggle, did not attend the
meeting, which officials said was due to logistical problems.
A Japanese Foreign Ministry official shrugged off China's
absence.
"It's not an all-or-nothing deal," the official said. "It
would have been better if China had come, but it is not as if we
would have been better off not holding the conference at all,"
without China, he said.
Nishimoto said the ADB and OECD would try to obtain China's
approval of the agreement soon. "I have no doubt as to the
strength of commitment that the Chinese government has in the
effort to prevent corruption and bribery and to take action
accordingly," he said.
Six other nations -- Cambodia, Kazakstan, Laos, New Zealand,
Thailand and Vietnam -- withheld their approval, but officials
said they expressed support for the measures and were likely to
sign on soon.