German Foreign Minister pays tribute to Transparency International on its 15th anniversary

German Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, addressed Transparency International’s (TI) Board of Directors this morning in honour of the organisation’s 15th anniversary celebration.

The Minister was welcomed by the Chair of TI, Huguette Labelle, and the Chair of its Advisory Council and founder of the organisation, Peter Eigen. The international Board of Directors welcomed the Minister’s address in which he highlighted key issues, challenges and successes in the worldwide fight against corruption.

TI’s Chair thanked the Minister for addressing the Board and also urged Germany to ratify the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). “We sincerely hope that Germany will show the way to other G-8 countries that have not yet ratified UNCAC to do so,” Labelle said.

The Minister promised the Board of Directors to make another effort in the second half of the year to push for Germany’s ratification of the UNCAC.

“Looking at the incredibly strong case for the fight against corruption shows the gap Transparency International filled as a global non-governmental organisation 15 years ago. Your work has been most valuable, not only in raising awareness, but also in setting international standards in all relevant fora, in advising governments and in developing codes of conduct for the private sector on a highly complex issue,” the Minister said.

“This was made possible by Transparency International’s non-confrontational style of coalition building and by the promotion of clear principles of integrity,” he added.

In closing, members of the Board congratulated the Minister on Germany’s good rating in TI’s 2008 Progress Report on Enforcement of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.

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Transparency International is the civil society organisation leading the global fight against corruption.