“Corruption will always hit hard on people with less power over their lives. It can also significantly hurt a country’s investment climate and act as a brake on economic growth”, says the Ambassador of Sweden in Vietnam Mr Staffan Herrström at the 8th Anti-Corruption Dialogue held recently in Hanoi
Under the theme “Corruption in Land Administration and Use”, the 8th Anti-Corruption dialogue drew the participation of representatives from the relevant Government agencies and ministries; the Development Partners and the media.
Vietnam’s Inspector General Mr Tran Van Truyen opened the Dialogue by confirming the acknowledgement by Government of Vietnam that in some areas, corruption is still serious, complicated and becoming more sophisticated, especially in land administration and use, natural resource exploitation, construction, taxation and public asset management.
He said: “The 8th Anti-Corruption Dialogue will inform the participants, including the media of the progress in anti-corruption work in general and in education in particular since the previous dialogue in May. This Dialogue will also focus on the factual situation of corruption and malpractice in land administration and use, shortcomings and loopholes in policies, which are prone to corruption.”
The Ambassador of Sweden Mr Staffan Herrström emphasised in his introductory remarks the Development Partners’ recognition of the progress made by the Government of Vietnam in its anti-corruption work, especially in the area of legal development.
Yet, he also called for better law enforcement. He said: “All of us being here today know that when combating corruption there are two words that should guide us, and those words are transparency and accountability. If you can ensure transparency in public documents, transparency in court cases, transparency in decision making then you have come far. If you also can ensure institutions for accountability, like free media, vibrant civil society, rule of law, then you have come very far.”
Other Development Partners also shared Mr Herrström’s remarks and called for better involvement of the civil societies and people’s inspection mechanism in scrutinising and preventing corruption.
Conclusions of the Dialogue will be presented at the coming Consultative Group Meeting to be held by the World Bank and Ministry of Planning and Investment in Hanoi on 7 – 8 December 2010.
