Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina formally joined the Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan (IAP) last week at the annual OECD Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ACN) Plenary meeting, showing their commitment to combatting corruption.
The countries’ progress, alongside that of their peers in the network, will be steered under the leadership of Lithuania as the first country Chair of the ACN. Lithuania’s direction comes during critical period for fighting corruption globally, and will be vital for developing a new ACN Programme of Work and for the sixth round of IAP country monitoring. Kosovo*, North Macedonia, and Serbia also expressed interest in joining the peer review programme, underscoring the continued importance of multilateralism in tackling bribery and promoting business integrity in the region in order to help ensure a level playing field.
“The addition of Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Istanbul Action Plan is encouraging not only for the future potential of both countries, but more broadly reflects the growing ambition in the Western Balkans to tackle corruption”, said Drago Kos, Chair of the Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan.
The ACN Plenary meeting, held 8-9 July at the OECD headquarters in Paris, saw the adoption of the IAP Fifth Round of Monitoring Follow-up Reports on Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, and Ukraine, which will be published in September. The ACN 30th Steering Group meeting, held during the Plenary, saw Lithuania take up its role of newly designated country Chair, with Egidijus Radzevičius, Deputy Director of the Special Investigation Service of Lithuania, representing the country.
The OECD Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ACN) is a country outreach network under the OECD Working Group on Bribery, established in 1998. It supports member countries in their efforts to prevent and combat corruption, through country reviews, practitioners’ networks and country-specific technical assistance.
The Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan (IAP) is a sub-regional peer review programme of the OECD ACN. Launched in 2003, the IAP supports anti-corruption reforms in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia**, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan through comprehensive and regular peer reviews. Other jurisdictions of the ACN region, OECD member countries, international organisations, and non-governmental partners participate in the implementation of the IAP as experts and donors.
The IAP is implemented with support of the European Union and the United States Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, in collaboration with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
For further information, journalists are invited to contact the OECD Media Office news.contact@oecd.org and learn more about the ACN.
*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244/99 and the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on Kosovo’s declaration of independence.
** In a letter dated 16 February 2023, Georgia informed the OECD of its decision not to join the IAP's fifth round of monitoring.
