President Shavkat Mirziyoyev participated in the ceremony of presenting the high International Prize in the fight against corruption, held at the Congress Center of Tashkent.
The event was attended by the Emir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who is the initiator of this award, as well as representatives of the United Nations, delegations from over 40 countries, including all laureates of this international award.
The President emphasized that Qatar is becoming a center of global cooperation and diplomacy, as evidenced by the successfully held high-level FIFA World Cup, the International Conference on Least Developed Countries, the World Expo Doha 2023, and many other international initiatives.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted that Uzbekistan is implementing systemic legal and institutional reforms, working closely with the UN, OECD and other authoritative international structures. The Anti-Corruption Law has been adopted, and a corresponding Agency has been created, which is endowed with special powers.
Preventive mechanisms aimed at ensuring openness, transparency of activities and increasing government responsibility, reducing bureaucracy and simplifying public services, and preventing corruption are being widely implemented.
In particular, compliance control and performance assessment systems have been established in all government departments. Government procurement has been completely digitalized.
In 2021, Uzbekistan became a member of the International Open Data Charter, effectively participating in the Istanbul Program of Action, the Global Operational Network, the Eurasian and Egmont Groups, and many other platforms, and serves as the Secretariat of the Asset Recovery Network in the states of Western and Central Asia.
The traditional International Anti-Corruption Forum is held annually in Tashkent.
In recent years, the country has risen by 42 positions in the Transparency International index. The goal has been set to increase Uzbekistan’s place in this ranking by another 50 positions by 2030.
In the Open Data Inventory ranking, Uzbekistan rose to 30th place, and in terms of the number of open data sources it ranks fourth in the world.
Along with this, it was proposed to create a Regional Research Center on Corruption Issues to exchange experience and strengthen dialogue, conduct scientific work with the active involvement of non-governmental non-profit organizations.
Close interaction between the national Anti-Corruption Agency and foreign specialized institutions will also be strengthened, which will further increase the potential of this agency. Based on best international experience, new mechanisms will be introduced, including the institution of “preliminary study” on facts of corruption - anti-corruption investigation.
The priority task is to form a new generation, which will be inoculated with the “vaccine of honesty” from childhood. It is planned to widely implement the UN Global Resource program on anti-corruption education and increase anti-corruption activity of youth in the country.
The President of Uzbekistan also proposed holding a Global Media Forum to effectively use the capabilities of journalists and further increase their influence in the fight against corruption.
At the end of his speech, the president cordially congratulated all the laureates of the prestigious award and wished them great success in their quest to ensure justice.
The President of Uzbekistan, together with the Emir of Qatar, solemnly presented statuettes of the high International Anti-Corruption Award to its owners.
The prize in the category “For achievements in the fight against corruption” was awarded to the former chairman of Transparency International, Jose Carlos Ugaz Sanchez Moreno (Peru).
In the category “Scientific Research and Education” the prize was awarded to Professor of the National University of Singapore John Quah (Singapore) and Professor of the University of Zagreb Suncana Roksandic (Croatia).
The awards “For Youth Creativity in the Fight against Corruption” were presented to the non-governmental organizations Youth4IntegrityBuilding (Kenya) - director Damaris Aswa, and All4Integrity (Portugal) - founder Andre Correa D'Almeida.
Investigative correspondent Clare Rewcastle-Brown (UK) and former head of the anti-corruption department of the UK Department for International Development Phil Mason were awarded the prizes in the Innovation and Investigative Journalism category.
In the “Protecting Sports from Corruption” category, the awards were given to journalist and BBC presenter Waihiga Mwaura (Kenya) and editor of the Central European News news agency Shantanu Guha Ray (India).
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