I welcome you all to Sharm El-Sheikh on the land of Egypt and I wish you a good stay
I am happy to be present at this press conference, which will help convey the summary of the world's consultations on combating corruption. This will contribute to raising awareness among the people of the world on the importance of preventing and combating corruption.
In light of the fact that this conference is held every two years to discuss a very important issue of concern to the international community, namely preventing and combating corruption despite the exceptional circumstances resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, participation in the conference comes on an unprecedented scale, with more than 3,000 experts representing States and international and regional organizations, including more than 1,500 individuals, in addition to 400 representatives from civil society organizations. Also, among the participants are five presidents attending virtually, 26 ministers including 16 in-person participants, 63 heads of anti-corruption bodies, 54 of whom are in-person participants, and 25 deputy ministers, including 17 in-person participants.
Dr. Mostafa Kamal Madbouly, Prime Minister of Egypt, has inaugurated the Conference, which asserts the support of the political leadership in Egypt for measures and policies to prevent and combat corruption.
During the opening session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption at its ninth session, the officers of the Bureau of the Conference were elected. Egypt had the honor of being elected the President of the Conference in the person of the Chairman of the Administrative Control Authority and three deputies from the States of Pakistan, Poland and Honduras and a rapporteur from the State of Belgium for a term of two years, until 2023.
The five-day event, which began with statements by representatives of States parties to the UN Convention who shall showcase successful practices in preventing and combating corruption. The event will also discuss a number of topics, the most prominent of which are prevention of corruption, the mechanism to review the implementation of the Convention, international cooperation between States and asset recovery, and cooperation between multilateral organizations.
There are also nine other resolutions that are expected to be discussed by the conference, with ongoing negotiations that bode well for international cooperation to implement the UN Convention; asset recovery; and the United States of America’s request to host the conference at its 10th session in 2023. Egypt takes part in submitting four of these resolutions, which accentuates the role of the Republic of Egypt’s in fostering international cooperation in the field of preventing and combating corruption.
Egypt proposed the Sharm El-Sheikh Declaration on fighting corruption in times of crisis, which was internationally well-received. We hope that this declaration will be adopted by consensus of the international community to strengthen anti-corruption efforts in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and in the recovery phase.
Egypt was keen on involving all parties. All the necessary medical measures were taken to facilitate the participation of everyone in the Conference in spite of the global exceptional circumstances.
The Conference will also witness many side events, which have hit the 70- mark. Egypt will organize three events to discuss the National Anti- Corruption Strategy; asset recovery; and the role of the Egyptian Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Combating Unit (EMLCU) in combating illicit financial flows.
In the same vein, we may affirm that Egypt has come a long way in promote national efforts to combat corruption, which will be extensively reviewed during the conference. Egypt, through its chairmanship of the ninth session of the Conference in 2021-2023, will continue its efforts to strengthen international cooperation in preventing and combating corruption in all its forms.