IPAK Project conference: Prevention of corruption related to the private sector in BiH
The project "Institutional Support to Anti-Corruption in BiH - IPAK", funded by the European Union, presented a comprehensive analysis and recommendations for the prevention of corruption related to the private sector in BiH.
Businesses are ready to report corruption if they can trust on an adequate judicial response, especially in high level corruption cases. In addition, export oriented companies seem to be less concerned by corruption and they “import” European values through their trade relations with EU, were some of the key messages of the online conference, organised within the IPAK project and attended by 40 representatives of ministries, business associations and chambers, anti-corruption bodies, experts, CSOs, media.
“Corruption is one of the greatest obstacles to growth of the economies in transitional countries like BiH. It hinders foreign direct investments and finally jeopardizes equal access of citizens to a better living.”, said Mr. Nicolas Bizel, the Head of Operations Section for Justice, Home Affairs and Public Administration Reform at the EU Delegation to BiH.
Dr. Vjekoslav Vuković, President of the Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH, confirmed findings of the analysis that private business is reluctant to speak up about corruption, as well as to act, unless they are asssured that all institutions are finaly ready to combat the corruption. He warned that corruption makes business more expensive and that final prices is paid by citizens.
The IPAK Project Teams experts Aleksandar Draganić and Zlatan Omerspahić presented the analysis, findings and the roadmap for improvement of prevention of corruption related to the private sector in BiH. The Recommendations for improvement of the prevention of corruption related to the private sector cover both aspects of this kind of corruption - private sector as a victim of corruption and private sector as a source of corruption.
The Recommendations are related to the following issues in the prevention of corruption:
- Improvement of legislature that regulates corruption prevention related to the private sector
- Improvement of provisions from ACSs and APs for corruption prevention related to the private sector
- Enhanced role of business associations in prevention of corruption related to the private sector
- Improved cooperation among relevant stakeholder in prevention of corruption related to the private sector.
The complete analysis can be downloaded from the IPAK project website: http://ipak.ba/bhs/clanci/analize-i-preporuke/analiza-borbe-protiv-korupcije-koja-je-povezana-sa-privatnim-sektorom-u-bih
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The Project 'Institutional Support to Anti-Corruption' is funded by the European Union in the amount of 750.000 euro aiming to provide assistance to Anti-Corruption bodies and institutions at all levels of BiH to raise the fight against corruption in the country at a higher and more engaged level.