Role of agencies in protecting anti-corruption in GCC hailed
Official delegations from the GCC states participated in the periodic meeting conducted by agencies responsible for integrity protection and anti-corruption.
MUSCAT: The fourth meeting of the agencies responsible for integrity protection and anti-corruption in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was recently held at the GCC Advisory Board of the Supreme Council Headquarters in Muscat.
The meeting, chaired by State Audit Institution (SAI) Oman, comes within the framework of periodic meetings conducted by the agencies. Official delegations from the GCC states, as well as a delegation from the GCC Secretariat General, participated in the meeting.
Mohammed Khamis Al Hajry, Director General for Legal Affairs at SAI Oman, welcomed the participating delegations, wishing them a pleasant stay in Oman.
He also wished the member agencies success in achieving cooperation and exchanging experiences within the fields of integrity protection and anti-corruption during the course of the meeting.
In addition, Al Hajry conveyed his thanks and appreciation to the GCC Secretariat General and the Expert Commission of the agencies responsible for integrity protection and anti-corruption, for their efforts in preparing the meeting’s agenda.
He concluded by asserting that the Sultanate of Oman gave careful consideration to its active participation in the efforts to evolve and develop the Gulf community.
Salah Naf ’a Al Makhlafi, Director General of the GCC Judiciary Economic Authority, delivered the GCC Secretariat General speech, in which he expressed thanks and appreciation to the Sultanate of Oman for hosting the meeting and to the SAI for organising it. He emphasised the value of cooperation and the sharing of experiences between the agencies responsible for integrity protection and anti-corruption in the GCC.
The meeting agenda included a review of a number of main topics, the most significant of which were the discussion of the Indicative Law to Protect the Public Funds of the Arab GCC states, the GCC Agreement on Integrity Promotion and Anti-corruption and the preparation of procedural manuals.
Furthermore, the meeting reviewed the feasibility of adopting an anti-corruption index for the GCC states and preparing a section on transparency and integrity protection to be included in the annual report about human rights in the GCC states, which will be issued by the Secretariat General.
The meeting also discussed the draft GCC Excellence Award in Integrity Protection and AntiCorruption in the GCC countries, as well as a working paper submitted by the Kuwait Anti-Corruption Authority on the development and consolidation of the components of future joint GCC Integrity and Anti-Corruption. Furthermore, the meeting discussed the recommendations of the Gulf Workshop on International Experiences in Measuring Transparency, Integrity and Impact on Public Policies to Fight Corruption.
The meeting concludes with the preparation of an agenda of the fifth meeting of Their Excellencies the Under-Secretaries of the agencies responsible for integrity protection and anticorruption in the Gulf Cooperation Council states to be hosted by the Sultanate of Oman during September 2019.