Dr. Mohamed Salama, ACA’s Under Secretary, Deputy Director for the Research and Studies Center of the Egyptian Anti-Corruption Academy (EACA), delivered an address as the head of the Egyptian delegation at the fourth session of the Conference of States Parties to the Arab Anti-Corruption Convention held in Riyadh.
Dr. Salama started by conveying H.E. Minister Hassan Abdel Shafi Ahmed, Chairman of the Administrative Control Authority, and President of the ninth session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (COSP9), sincere appreciation and respect. Then, Dr. Salama proceeded to extend his felicitations to Mr. Mazen Al- Kahmous, President of Saudi Arabia’s Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (NAZAHA), on his election as President of the fourth session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Arab Anti-Corruption Convention, wishing him success in chairing the Conference.
In addition, Dr. Mohamed Salama commended the efforts of the President of Morocco’s The National Authority of Probity, Prevention and Fight against Corruption (INPPLC), and the President of the third session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Arab Anti-Corruption, during his chairmanship. Dr. Salama further thanked NAZAHA for the warm reception and the Legal Affairs Sector of the League of Arab States for striving to put the Arab Anti-Corruption Convention into action.
During his address, Dr. Salama highlighted Egypt’s keenness on actively contributing to the Implementation Review Mechanism for The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) as it participated in 2014 and 2019 in the Review Mechanism during its first and second cycles with the aim of tracking the progress made and challenges encountered.
In accentuating Egypt’s progress with regards to preventing and combating corruption, Dr. Salama stated that The Administrative Control Authority, Egypt's representative at the UN in line with Articles 36 and 6 of the UNCAC, published a follow-up report on the progress made in implementing the National Anti-Corruption Strategy for 2020. According to the report, Egypt achieved about 85% of the targeted goals set for the years 2019 and 2020. He noted that these achievements came despite the dire circumstances the world was undergoing due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
Dr. Salama listed some of Egypt’s strides with regards to anti-corruption measures, namely:
The promulgation of the Civil Service Law and its executive regulation, which encompasses articles that articulate the values of integrity, justice, reliability, transparency, and deterrence of corruption. It Emphasizes the application of codes of conduct within the public sector in order to ensure sound and decent performance.
The efficiency of the public procurement system was also enhanced to ensure transparency, competitiveness, and objectivity in decision-making. Moreover, a law regulating public contracting was issued, whereby electronic contracting was facilitated and the Government procurement portal was launched.
In fostering transparency, Egypt published the public budget, upgraded the complaints system, and developed and published the results of its national corruption perception index (CPI) to measure the local perception of corruption and craft mechanisms to prevent corruption tailored to each region’s economic activity and historical and cultural heritage.
Awareness campaigns have been launched across all the media platforms to raise awareness of the dangers of corruption and to report it on the hotline numbers of oversight bodies. Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, Dar Al-Ifta, the Ministry of Endowments, and churches have spread religious awareness among those who visit places of worship.
In addition, a curriculum centered on human rights and anti-corruption has been incorporated into all universities and higher institutes using the e-learning system. This, along with holding conferences, workshops, arts and sports competitions for students, faculty members, and university staff to activate codes of ethical conduct.
The Administrative Control Authority coordinated with the University of Cairo, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to simulate the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (COPS), with the participation of students and faculty members of Cairo University to raise awareness of corruption in the university community.
The ACA’s Egyptian Anti-Corruption Academy (EACA) was established to raise awareness, enhance capacity-building, implement a graduate academic program offering a master's degree in governance and anti-corruption, promote international cooperation and the exchange of experience; and conduct research on ways to prevent and combat corruption.
Dr. Salama explained that the third session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Arab Anti-Corruption Convention, held in Morocco in January 2020, had already agreed on some resolutions, including setting up a technical working group to follow up on the implementation of the provisions of the Arab Convention.
The results of the fourth meeting of an open-ended intergovernmental expert group and representatives of independent bodies in the States parties, held in December 2020, were followed up with regards to assessing the mechanism for the formation of the working group. The meeting was followed by a workshop designed by the Saudi Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Vienna "to discuss ways to establish an Implementation Review Mechanism for the Arab Anti-corruption Convention. The workshop concluded with the preparation of three draft resolutions to be submitted at the fourth session of the Conference Of the States parties.
Dr. Salama reiterated that Egypt is fully supportive of the draft resolutions and is offering, through the ACA’s Egyptian Anti-Corruption Academy, training programs and workshops for the task force members who shall review the self-assessment checklist as part of the Implementation Review Mechanism for the Arab Anti- Corruption Convention. Dr. Salama mentioned that the EACA was established to be a training hub and a platform for exchanging experiences, as it offers multiple programs in the fields of anti-corruption and prevention on the domestic and international levels in coordination with relevant international bodies.
In conclusion, Dr. Salama pointed out that this conference constitutes a vital platform for all to converse and exchange expertise to safeguard the countries’ resources, stressing that we are all determined to build back better in spite of the challenges in order to ensure the welfare of our peoples.
Dr. Salama further elucidated Egypt’s eagerness to share knowledge and success stories to achieve the noble objectives of the Arab Anti-Corruption Convention, adding that he is looking forward to witnessing the success of the fourth session of the Conference, in the hope that it will come up with resolutions that would bolster anti-corruption efforts and secure decent life, justice, prosperity, and development for our peoples.
This came in light of the ACA’s chairmanship of the Egyptian delegation participating in the fourth session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Arab Anti-corruption Convention held in Riyadh