KOLKATA — The working sessions of the second ministerial meeting on combating corruption in the G20 countries concluded here Saturday, emphasizing the need for cooperation to attain this goal.

The Kingdom participated with a delegation headed by President of the Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) Mazen Bin Ibrahim Al-Kahmous.

Speaking at the opening, Al-Kahmous thanked India, the current G20 president, for organizing and hosting the meeting, and for its contribution to combating corruption, which, he said, adds to the efforts of the international community in this regard.

He stressed that the Kingdom, under the leadership of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King and Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman took concrete steps to combat corruption, including setting up legal frameworks and practices, in order to achieve the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which, among others, aims to build a diversified and sustainable economy.

He referred to the G20 countries’ efforts to confront global crises, be they economic, political or health related, and to enforce the law, stressing that Riyadh’s initiative to enhance international cooperation in this regard was welcomed by the G20 countries during the first ministerial meeting of the anti-corruption group, held under the Kingdom’s presidency in 2020.

Al-Kahmous said: “We have seen great successes in addressing challenges related to international cooperation and recovery of assets obtained through corruption.”

He also said that the Riyadh initiative led to the establishment of the GlobE Network under the umbrella of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, which enjoyed great support from the international community, as more than 161 anti-corruption agencies from more than 90 countries joined the network, including most of the G20 countries.

“We look forward to all parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption joining the network in the near future,” he added.

According to Al-Kahmous, measuring national efforts to combat corruption still poses a great challenge to many countries, and welcomed the first international conference on measuring corruption at the headquarters of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in Vienna, scheduled for Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 of this year.

The event coincides with the United Nations Convention against Corruption, whose resolutions emphasize the need for countries to consult, including the private sector, academia and civil society, and to analyze the trends of corruption prevailing in their regions, and the circumstances under which corruption is committed.

The conference will understand the extent of its scope and its impact, and come up with effective policies and strategies to combat it.

Al-Kahmous thanked India, which assumed the Presidency of the G20 countries last year, for the achievements of this year and “for resuming this important ministerial meeting, which affirms the political will of the G20 countries not to tolerate corruption and be safe havens for the corrupt”.

He also asked for renewed commitment from the international community to cooperate in combating corruption, and expressed hope that “the distinguished efforts of the countries of the group” continue next year under the presidency of Brazil.

A number of issues related to combating corruption were discussed at the meeting, foremost among them the second ministerial statement of the ministers concerned with combating corruption in the G20 countries emphasizes the need to implement a sustainable development plan for the member states for the year 2030.

It also called for countries to cooperate in enforcing anti-corruption laws, accountability and transparency, and asset recovery, as well as the importance of working to measure corruption rates using reliable and evidence-based frameworks, and the relationship between corruption and other forms of crime, especially organized crime and economic crimes, including the money laundering.

The ministerial statement also praised the contributions made by the previous presidencies of the countries of the group, particularly the first ministerial meeting on combating corruption, which was held under the Kingdom’s presidency of G20 in 2020, where the Riyadh Initiative was launched. — SPA