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Russia plays major role in struggle against corruption

One of Russia’s major initiatives at the recent anti-corruption forum in Marrakech was the move to hold a sixth session of the Conference of the signatory nations

VIENNA, December 9 (Itar-Tass) —— Russia plays a major role in the fulfilment of the UN Convention against Corruption and takes decisive steps in the struggle against this negative phenomenon, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and UN Under Secretary General Yuri Fedotov said in an exclusive interview with Itar-Tass on the occasion of the International Day against Corruption on Friday.

“First of all, I would like to express gratitude to Russia for the support, including the financial support to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in the struggle against corruption. Russia allocated a grant of 515,000 dollars to us. This is a quite big sum, as the struggle against corruption does not need such big expenses contrary to the corruption itself. These scales are incomparable, but the efficiency is sometimes quite high,” Fedotov noted.

“Particularly we together with Russia are working on the project for the assistance to use the UN Convention against Corruption as the framework for the creation of guarantees against corruption in holding major public events. This theme is very topical. Another theme is the makeup of a practical manual for business jointly with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the World Bank. This manual can be suitable as well. I welcome the intensification of Russia’s participation in our projects, whether it is global, thematic, national or regional projects, which are being implemented in the branches of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in all countries,” Fedotov went on to say.

In this respect, Yuri Fedotov recalled that several months ago chief of the Russian presidential executive office Sergei Naryshkin visited Vienna and informed the UN states about the steps, which Russia is taking. The high Russian guest dwelt in detail on the national strategy of the struggle against corruption in Russia in 2010, this speech had a positive response.

As for Russia’s participation in international formats Russia participates very actively in them. One of Russia’s major initiatives at the recent anti-corruption forum in Marrakech (Morocco) was the move to hold a sixth session of the Conference of the signatory nations of the UN Convention against Corruption in Russia in 2015 and this idea was supported.

“This conference in 2015 is a landmark. The conference heralds a special stage in the fulfilment of the UN Convention. By this date the first cycle of convention review will be over and the second cycle will be launched. We will sum up the results and examine what should be improved to make the convention review procedure more efficient. Meanwhile, this will be the year of the last deadline, which the UN General Assembly set to accomplish the Millennium Development Goals,” Fedotov pointed out. “The Millennium Development Goals also envisage the struggle against corruption as a phenomenon, which hampers international cooperation and development. Finally, for the first time, the conference will be held in the country, which is a G-8 state and is an Eastern European country. So, many issues will take place for the first time and naturally we should prepare to this event properly,” Fedotov underlined.