Uzbekistan to develop an anti-corruption assessment mechanism following study mission in Korea

October 2, 2019

As part of its Development Solutions Partnership (DSP) programme, UNDP Seoul Policy Centre (USPC) and Korea’s Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) co-hosted a three-day study visit on 3-5 September to equip the members of the Republican Inter-Agency Commission on Combating Corruption (the Commission) in Uzbekistan with technical knowledge and policy insights from Korea’s experience on Anti-Corruption Initiatives Assessment (AIA). It also facilitated the establishment of an action plan to improve the establishment of an AIA-like mechanism contextualized to fit Uzbekistan’s specific anti-corruption objectives.

AIA is an anti-corruption mechanism that fosters a culture of integrity and reduces corruption risks by evaluating the adequacy and effectiveness of anti-corruption efforts made by public institutions, as well as their implementation process. In 2018, ACRC conducted AIA on 270 organizations across the country. ACRC has also developed the National Integrity Information System (NIIS), an e-system that digitalizes national anti-corruption data and functions, thereby making the work system more efficient.

Following the successful implementation of previous DSP projects in Vietnam, UNDP, in partnership with ACRC, selected Uzbekistan as a partner country for the 2019 DSP on sharing AIA expertise. With anti-corruption featuring as one of the key tasks in Uzbekistan’s Five-Area Development Strategy for 2017-2021, the Commission was created in Uzbekistan to address corruption in public institutions. The Uzbek delegation consisted of working-level staff from the Commission, including Mr. Zafarbek Rustamov, Deputy Head of Expert Group of Anti-corruption Commission of Uzbekistan, and Mr. Azizkhon Bakhadirov from UNDP Uzbekistan.

Through constructive feedback and knowledge exchange with ACRC, the Uzbek delegation reaffirmed its political will to continue the ongoing anti-corruption efforts while promising future collaboration with ACRC.

USPC’s DSP is a programmatic approach to share Korea’s innovative, tested-and-proven policy tools with other countries through the UNDP’s global network and enhance the Korea-UNDP partnership on strategic development issue globally. DSP creates and deepens a triangular cooperation among Korea, UNDP and partners in developing countries through their respective country offices. The Korean anti-corruption commission’s expertise and know-how serves as a key axis for sharing anti-corruption knowledge with partner countries through USPC’s DSP.