Saudi Arabia participated with a delegation headed by H.E. the President of the Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority Mr. Mazin bin Ibrahim Al-Kahmous, in the G20 Anti-Corruption Ministerial Meeting, held in Natal city, the Federative Republic of Brazil from October 22 to 24, 2024.
During the meeting, H.E. the President of the Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority delivered Saudi Arabi's speech, expressing gratitude and appreciation to Brazil for hosting this important meeting. congratulating the Federative Republic of Brazil for selecting its representative as Vice-Chair of GlobE Network during the meeting held in Beijing last month.
He appreciated the support by the leadership of Saudi Arabia to the efforts of combating corruption since the launch of Vision 2030, which resulted in the development of its national strategy to combat corruption, and taking significant steps to enhance international anti-corruption partnerships and cooperation.
In his speech, H.E. emphasized the pivotal role of the G20 countries in building a just world and ensuring a sustainable planet, including the G20's role in establishing GlobE Network which has now been joined by 222 authorities from 123 countries, including 15 countries from the G20, commending the role of the GlobE Network in strengthening international cooperation, asset recovery, and the exchange of relevant information among anti-corruption authorities.
He expressed his hope that all G20 countries would play a central role in developing the work of the network as previously articulated in G20 meetings and in resolutions of the Conference of States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
H.E. also affirmed that Saudi Arabia's funding for the Global Program to Measure Corruption is aimed at overcoming challenges to aid countries, investors, donors, and other stakeholders in evaluating anti-corruption efforts in each country. He hoped that the second phase of this program will result in a reliable and transparent corruption measurement indices that take into account the differences of the domestic legal framework of each country, calling on G20 countries to support the UNDP program in measuring corruption through information exchange and best practices to contribute to achieving its goals.
The meeting discussed several topics related to anti-corruption efforts, notably the second G20 anti-corruption ministerial statement held in India in 2023, the emphasis on implementing the sustainable development plan for Member States in 2030, cooperation in enforcing anti-corruption laws, accountability, transparency, and asset recovery and combating all forms of corruption in line with relevant international agreements.
The ministerial statement also included approval of the ACWG plan for the period 2025-2027, focusing on enhancing countries' efforts in combating money laundering and ensuring transparency of beneficial ownership in compliance with the United Nations Convention against Corruption and Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations. Additionally, several documents from the G20 ACWG under the Brazilian presidency were approved, with one of the key highlights being the high-level principles for the G20 on private sector integrity incentives to adopt comprehensive and consistent anti-corruption measures, and the accountability report on anti-corruption efforts for the G20 countries for the year 2024.
It is worth mentioning that The first anti-Corruption ministerial meeting of was held during Saudi Arabia's presidency of the G20 Summit in 2020, aiming to commit to enhancing cooperation on an international scale and directing future work on combating corruption.