More political commitment needed to fight international corruption, says OECD Secretary-General

21/11/2007 - "Much more needs to be done" to fight international corruption, said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría today at a conference in Rome to mark the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.

He cited new anti-bribery laws, tougher sanctions and improved international co-ordination and co-operation as some of the Convention's achievements over the past decade.

But, he said, "some countries are still holding back on implementing the Convention. They have almost no investigations. They have brought no cases to court. They are not being pro-active."

"This needs to change," he said. Without credible action across a broad front, pressures will build on governments - even those who are currently strong performers - to go the other way. There is a big risk that countries will go back to doing "business as usual", including corruption. The only way to prevent this is to ensure that everyone plays by the same rules. We need practical measures, and, more importantly, we need political commitment."

(See here for the full speech)

At the conference, Ministers and senior officials of the 37 Parties to the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions issued a statement reaffirming their commitment to fighting bribery. The statement is available here.

For further information, please see www.oecd.org/bribery/anniversary