Kuwait International Conference "Integrity for Development"

January 22, 2019

Under the patronage of his HH Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Amir of the State of Kuwait.The Anti-Corruption authority in Kuwait (Nazaha) in partnership with UNDP, hosted Kuwait’s First International  Anti-Corruption Conference “Integrity for Development” in the 15th and 16th of January 2019,  to promote integrity, transparency and the fight against corruption. This is the first international Anti-corruption conference in the Arab region to be opened by the Head of State of one of its countries.  

The conference aims to shed the light on the efforts of the State of Kuwait in promoting transparency, integrity and competitiveness of business in state institutions. Additionally, reviewing the experiences of international organizations in promoting integrity and fighting corruption, making use of best practices, applying the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and highlighting national efforts and measures to improve the status of Kuwait on the international indicators for measuring integrity and transparency.

Six sessions were held to discuss varies subjects related to fighting corruption. the first session was titled; Towards a New Generation of National Anti-Corruption Strategies. Meanwhile the second session evolved around successful corruption prevention practices in the public sector. While the third session was about the importance of integrity for competitiveness and the business environment.

The fourth session talked about the transparency and its role in enhancing citizens trust in the state institutions.In addition, the fifth session was about the current state of the indicators on integrity and corruption and the way forward. While the last session focused on the safeguarding of the Sustainable Development Goals against Corruption Risks.   

The conference also witnessed the launch of Kuwait's first anti-corruption strategy, which had been developed with the support of UNDP and UNODC, and is the first one to be developed in the Gulf region through a participatory process, and indeed the only strategy of its kind in the last 10 years for any of the Gulf states.