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Speech of His Excellency Nursultan Nazarbayev
Dear Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to the
hospitable We live in an era of globalization, when many of today's problems go beyond the limits of Nations and State. Issues of
counteracting corruption - the theme of this Conference - are common to all
countries across the world. We were the first CIS country to have adopted a special law ‘On the Struggle against Corruption’. Today, the
Agency of Economic Crimes & Corruption (Financial
Police) and the Commission on Issues Related to the Struggle against
Corruption operate successfully in It is now
necessary for us to implement our State Programme to counter corruption. Dear Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like
to welcome all of you - representatives of nearly 60 States and 20
international organizations – to Such a representative forum stresses the importance of
effective struggle against corruption for the entire world community. The fact that
the present Conference is held in Countering this evil is an important priority of State
policy in This is
reflected in our long-term Development Strategy ‘Kazakhstan According to
international experts, As I have
said, ten years ago, Our laws on civil service, judiciary and law enforcement were clearly directed against all forms of corruption. A lifetime ban
on holding any positions in State bodies and organizations was introduced for
those who had been dismissed for corruption offenses. We now aim to improve the system of governance, making it more compact and transparent. We must remove
all unnecessary steps in State collaboration with citizens and the private
sector - all of which can be a breeding ground for corruption. We are presently implementing the second State Programme to combat corruption for the period until 2011. Anti-corruption policy is implemented by the State in a systematic manner. The Commission
on Combating Corruption under the President and the Agency for Combating
Economic Crimes & Corruption are working actively. Last year,
Astana hosted an Anti-Corruption Forum, which united corruption fighters from
all over The national action plan to combat corruption was developed and adopted. The State
apparatus and institutions of civil society joined in combating the evil. This work
actively engaged political parties, NGOs, the media, and large segments of our
society. Public reception points and telephone help-lines are now in operation. Anti-corruption
policy in Our country ratified the Convention of the United
Nations against Corruption in May last year.
We are ready
to share approaches... We are ready to study and apply the successful
experience of anticorruption work of other countries. Our experience
says that it is possible to counteract corruption successfully only if we have
executed some important conditions. Strict and fair laws - and their execution are
necessary. Henceforth, we
will improve our legal base based on the wide experience of other countries. The conception
of a legal policy, which I have recently confirmed by Decree, contains a number
of tasks concerning the elimination of the reasons and conditions promoting the
occurrence of corruption in We will bend over backwards to leave no possibility for those engaged in corrupt activities to find holes in our legislation. The openness and transparency of government and local officials’ work, the availability to all media of details on actions of companies and businesses are necessary. For this
purpose a strong political will is necessary, and the country’s leadership has
it! Our
legislation will create more transparent management systems and provide strict
observance of the rights and freedom of each citizen. It is necessary for every sector of society to become
intolerant of corruption Even the idea
of accepting or giving a bribe must become anathema to each and every citizen.
To achieve this is a most difficult task. It demands a very high level of legal
culture and is reliant on the experience of society as a whole. It is necessary to instill a certain ethos in citizens from earliest childhood. And in this
noble work the State should go hand-in-hand with civil society – political
parties, non-governmental organizations and the media. It is one of
the main conditions for developing countries. Criminality and corruption is invariably accompanied by poverty and crises in the economy. The result of
corruption is low incomes for citizens and public servants. As you know,
our country - as well as other former Soviet republics - endured Soviet
totalitarianism and experienced the complete collapse of our economy following
the breakdown of the All of us who
lived through this period know the story... Overcoming the vestiges of old law enforcement systems - especially the judicial system - was a very difficult matter. This is an old disease. Down through the decades, people solved certain issues by offering bribes. It was easier to do so than solving things lawfully. Unfortunately, that is the legacy of a command economy. We in Our independence is very young; it is not yet twenty years old. There are still people with outdated education and outdated understanding working in all spheres. Therefore, we
value highly the experience of the Conference’s work. Dear Participants, Fighting corruption does not only mean taking decisive measures to punish perpetrators; it means addressing the daily work of government and society. Success in
such a fight largely depends on the congruence of efforts of the world
community. I am convinced that today’s discussions will contribute much to the world’s anticorruption policies improvement. I wish the
Conference participants an efficient ideas and experience exchange - and look
forward to much progress in this important work. We in I wish you
success in your work. Thank you. Astana, 16th September, 2009 |
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