The 10th Regional Conference on Preventing and Combating Corruption in Infrastructure Projects in Asia-Pacific opened in Hanoi on December 3.

Deputy Inspector General Tran Ngoc Liem speaks at the conference 

The four-day event, jointly organised by the Government Inspectorate of Vietnam, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), comprises four main events - the Business Integrity (BI) meeting, the Public Integrity Network (PIN) meeting, the 23rd Steering Group Meeting, and the High-Level Segment and High-Level Panel meetings.

Addressing the BI meeting, Deputy Inspector General Tran Ngoc Liem emphasised that infrastructure development is considered the backbone of economic growth and motivation for social development, creating an important foundation for the government to provide fundamental public services for people.

The growing demand on infrastructure development in many countries in Asia-Pacific through large-scale projects in recent years has led to the risk of corruption in the projects, he said, adding that this is a big challenge facing many countries in the region in particular and in the world in general.

According to Liem, such BI meetings offer a good chance for relevant parties to share their views on how to fight corruption in infrastructure projects, difficulties, challenges and lessons, thus taking holistic measures to promote integrity in infrastructure projects in the region, and in business activities in general.

President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vu Tien Loc said the regional conference helps Vietnam get more information in the field, noting that combating corruption in business needs a synchronous effort.

It is necessary to build a transparent legal system, towards fighting corruption in the infrastructure sector.

According to representatives from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam, developing infrastructure and promoting economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region are very important, but negative impacts of corruption and weak governance will affect development in the region.

They suggested regional countries make more efforts and actions in fighting corruption, and further enhance their institutional capability to address corruption-related issues.