Deputy Inspector General Tran Ngoc Liem speaks at the conference (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The 10thRegional Conference on Preventing and Combating Corruption in Infrastructure Projectsin Asia-Pacific opened in Hanoi on December 3.
The four-day event, jointly organised by the Government Inspectorate ofVietnam, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Organisation forEconomic Co-operation and Development (OECD), comprises four main events- the Business Integrity (BI) meeting, thePublic Integrity Network (PIN) meeting, the 23rd Steering Group Meeting, andthe High-Level Segment and High-Level Panel meetings.
Addressing the BI meeting, Deputy Inspector General Tran Ngoc Liem emphasised that infrastructure development is consideredthe backbone of economic growth and motivation for social development, creatingan important foundation for the government to provide fundamental publicservices for people.
The growing demand on infrastructure development in many countries in Asia-Pacificthrough large-scale projects in recent years has led to the risk of corruptionin the projects, he said, adding that this is a big challenge facing manycountries in the region in particular and in the world in general.
According to Liem, such BI meetings offer a good chance for relevant parties toshare their views on how to fight corruption in infrastructure projects,difficulties, challenges and lessons, thus taking holistic measures to promote integrityin infrastructure projects in the region, and in business activities ingeneral.
President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vu Tien Loc said the regionalconference helps Vietnam get more information in the field, noting that combatingcorruption in business needs a synchronous effort.
It is necessary to build a transparent legal system, towards fighting corruption in the infrastructure sector.
According to representatives from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) inVietnam, developing infrastructure and promoting economic growth in the Asia-Pacificregion are very important, but negative impacts of corruption and weakgovernance will affect development in the region.
They suggested regional countries make more efforts and actions in fighting corruption,and further enhance their institutional capability to address corruption-relatedissues./.
VNA
