Mr. President, Heads and members of delegates,
In the beginning, I would like to express to the President of the Conference and to the Secretariat our deep appreciation for the effort made. I wish all States parties best of luck throughout this Conference.
Mr. President, Egypt has invested in the review mechanism and considered it an opportunity, an incentive and a challenge to enhance the anti-corruption system.
In the field of preventive measures, a section on oversight bodies and their independence was included in the Constitution. The United Nations was notified that the Administrative Control Authority is responsible for implementing articles 6 and 36 of the UNCAC. We launched the second phase of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy in 2019, which exceeded 85% of the desired targets by the end of its second year. We also issued several codes of conduct, markedly the recent Ethical Charter of the University Society, while a code of ethics for the sports community is underway. We have operationalized a mechanized system for the implementation and the dissemination of the Government budget and procurement plan. We have also designed and launched media campaigns to raise awareness, with the latest campaign “Who Wins'' circulating concurrently with the International Anti-Corruption Day 202. In addition, we convened a simulation conference of the ninth session of the Conference of State Parties (COSP9) with the help of Cairo University students in November 2021.
In the area of criminalization and law enforcement, we, despite the richness of our legislative base, have been keen to comply with international conventions. We Have enacted legislation to regulate civil service; government contracts; social work; investment; and sports. We have amended some of the legislation, notably the penal and criminal laws, the fight against money-laundering and illicit gains, the law regulating the ACA, which added more crimes within its purview and commissioned the establishment of the Egyptian Anti-Corruption Academy (EACA).
With regards to international cooperation, Egypt took part in the UNCAC’s Implementation Review Mechanism (IRM) overseen by the Implementation Review Group, where it reviewed four countries, and its country review reports have been reviewed in two sessions. Efforts to combat money-laundering have been reviewed within the framework of our membership in the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF). Additionally, we hosted the first African Anti-Corruption Forum and we joined many regional and international networks and conventions.
As for asset recovery, we have established the Assets Recovery Committee and Egypt’s Public Prosecution Office has undertaken the execution of all requests for judicial assistance on the basis of the UNCAC. The Anti-Money-Laundering Unit has adopted the automatic exchange of information with counterpart units within the framework of its membership in the Egmont Group.
In conclusion, Mr. President: We call upon States to consider rationalizing the issuance of resolutions in the hope that they will focus on launching the second review cycle of the IRM, which has been postponed to June 2024. In this regard, it should be noted that there were 61 resolutions adopted by the Conference, exceeding the number of articles of the Convention in the chapters under review. I wish all of you to spend an enjoyable time in the city of peace in Sharm El-Sheikh.
I thank you all for listening.