International Anti-Corruption Conference to be held in Eastern Europe for the first time

Prague to be venue for world's largest anti-corruption forum in 2001

For the first time, the International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) will be held in a country of Central and Eastern Europe. Hosted jointly by the Czech government and Transparency International-Czech Republic, the conference will be held in Prague in October 2001.

The IACC is the world's leading venue for anti-corruption experts from around the world. More than 1,500 delegates are expected to attend the Prague conference which will be the 10th IACC.

"Corruption is a major threat to the entire region of Central and Eastern Europe and has devastated many countries," said Transparency International (TI) Chairman Peter Eigen. "It is against this background that the time has come to go beyond political statements, and that we need to take a serious look at what has worked and what has not in the various anti-corruption policies and regulatory measures."

The Prague IACC comes at a delicate moment for the Czech Republic and the region in general. Showing clear results in the fight against corruption also is one of the preconditions for those countries seeking to join the European Union in 2003. Governments from across Central and Eastern Europe will thus see the IACC as a crucial opportunity to show that they have done their homework for EU-membership.

More than ever before, this 10th IACC will be a practical and action-oriented meeting, with a focus on case studies, concrete strategies and impact assessment. Delegates will include government representatives from the executive, legislative and judicial branches, as well as delegates from the private sector, the media, the professions, academia, the development community and from a wide range of civil society organisations.

The conference will be hosted by the Government of the Czech Republic and TI Czech Republic, the Czech National Chapter of Transparency International. Its theme will be: "Together Against Corruption: Designing Strategies, Assessing Impact, Reforming corrupt Institutions." The conference series is overseen by the IACC Council, for which Transparency International serves as Secretariat. Previous conferences were held in Durban, South Africa and Lima, Peru. The 11th IACC in 2003 will be held in Seoul, South Korea.

For further information:

. . . please check the 10th IACC website http://www.10iacc.org . . .

. . . and please contact

TI Czech Republic:

Mr. Michal Burian,

Tel. +420-603-832 732,

E-Mail: burian@transparency.czTI International Secretariat:

Ms. Gillian Dell,

IACC organiser,

Tel. +49-30-343 820-17,

E-Mail: gdell@transparency.org