The virtual 16th ASEAN Parties Against Corruption (ASEAN-PAC) Principals Meeting

On December 9, virtually connected from the Government Inspectorate of Vietnam, the 16th ASEAN Parties Against Corruption Principals Meeting took place under the theme "Better Governance, Less Corruption”. Government Inspector General Le Minh Khai, Deputy Inspector General Nguyen Van Thanh chaired the Meeting and delegates from the ASEAN-PAC members attended the meeting virtually from 10 ASEAN countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Delivering the opening remarks, Government Inspector General Le Minh Khai said that, taking the role as the Chairman of the 16th ASEAN-PAC Principal Meeting, Government Inspectorate of Viet Nam (GIV) considered that the meeting was a good opportunity to continue to affirm the cooperation commitments, promote the achievements, continue the efforts of the predecessor ASEAN-PAC Chairman; together with the members of the Group to contribute more practically to the overall development of the community.

The Inspector General also said that good governance and anti-corruption were two issues with broad content, interference and connection which together had a positive impact on the development and sustainability of countries. Good governance was the prerequisite condition for effective anti-corruption and sustainable development. With that in mind, GI had chosen "Better Governance, Less Corruption" as the theme of the Meeting. That was also a valuable opportunity for member agencies to share national efforts in good governance and anti-corruption works; good lessons learned in building standards for good governance and anti-corruption as well as the possibility of closer and more effective cooperation among agencies in the coming time.

In the morning session, after the NACC Thailand summed up its work in the past year as the 15th ASEAN-PAC Chairman and transferred the Chairman role to the Government Inspectorate of Vietnam, the Meeting focused on some main contents: Approving the minutes of the previous meeting; discussing and adopting the amended Term of Reference, the 2020-2022 Action Plan and ASEAN-PAC Logo; presenting updated reports on the anti-corruption progress of each member; discussing cooperation activities in the group and other issues raised by members.

In the afternoon session, GIV reported on the hosting of ASEAN-PAC capacity building workshop at the sidelines of the 17th ASEAN-PAC Secretariat meeting in 2021. In addition, international and regional agencies and organizations included the Rule of Law Initiative of the American Bar Association ABA-ROLI, Asia-Pacific region; The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) presented the future cooperation orientation.