The appeal was made during the 4th Anti-Corruption Dialogue held in Hanoi late November prior to the annual Consultative Group Meeting for Vietnam.
The Dialogue was co-chaired by the Government Inspectorate and the Office of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption of Vietnam and Sweden on behalf of the international development partners.
In his opening speech, the Ambassador of Sweden, Mr Rolf Bergman stressed:
“Governments and States cannot reduce corruption without very strong support from various players in society: civil society organisations, media, private sector and individuals; all have a crucial role to play.”
For his part, the Head of the Office of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption, Mr Vu Tien Chien said that the fight against corruption in Vietnam has achieved some progress and that Vietnam is determined to combat against corruption.
However, he added:
“The corruption situation is still complicated and serious; some corruption cases related to a foreign country have appeared.”
Speaking at the Dialogue, the international development partners voiced their recognition of Vietnam’s achievements in improving its legal institutions but pointed out that corruption efforts in the past 6 months have been drawn back due to the low enthusiasm from the reporters following the convictions of two reporters who had written about the PMU 18 scandal.
The development partners called on the Government to encourage the media in monitoring and exposing corruption. The Government’s legislation should protect reporters from all risks, ensure that reporting corruption does not bring adverse legal consequences and create conditions for the reporters to have access to information.
In an interview granted to Vietnam Television on the sideline of the Dialogue, Ambassador of Sweden, Rolf Bergman said:
“Only free media can fight corruption successfully.”
