Today, on 17 December 2020, the annual Steering Group Meeting (SGM) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB)/Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia and the Pacific was held virtually. A two-member delegation, led by Commissioner A Karma Rinzin of the Anti-Corruption Commission, represented Bhutan in the 24th SGM.
The Secretariat to the Initiative reported on the implementation of the Initiative’s Work Programme 2018 – 2020. Besides this, the member countries viz. Australia, Cook Islands, Kazakhstan, Nepal, People’s Republic of China and Thailand shared some of their significant anti-corruption developments and good practices on public integrity, law enforcement and business integrity. The meeting concluded with presentation on draft Work Programme for 2021 – 2023 and calendar of activities for the year 2021. The SGM will be followed with a webinar titled ‘Leveraging open source intelligence, whistleblower protection and reporting, and investigative journalism to combat corruption in times of crisis’ on 18 December 2020.
The virtual meeting was attended by about 63 representatives from member countries and various development partners.
The Initiative was launched as early as 1999 under the joint leadership of the ADB and OECD. Bhutan became a member of the Initiative in September 2007 as its 28th member. Today, there are 33 member countries including Azerbaijan and Georgia being the two new members joining the Initiative this year.