Director-General/Executive Director
Ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to start by thanking the UN Global Compact for collaborating on this first-ever Private Sector Forum to be held within the framework of this conference, along with all of our partners and our host country, the United States of America.
This discussion comes at a critical time. Corruption is making our already precarious world even more dangerous and unstable, and the private sector is an essential partner in preventing and fighting corruption.
Corruption limits opportunities, weakens economies and makes public institutions less trusted and less effective.
Money that could have been spent advancing sustainable development is lost.
According to UNCTAD, addressing illicit financial flows could cut down Africa’s financing deficit to achieve the SDGs by almost half.
Companies big and small engage in corruption, enabled by lawyers, accountants, and bankers who evade accountability while undermining accountability.
Sometimes they subvert systems through bribes. Sometimes they avoid taxes. Sometimes they make their profits at the expense of the environment. Sometimes they allow exploitation and abuse to infiltrate their supply chains, in pursuit of lower costs.
Corruption creates an unfair playing field for business, inflates costs, distorts markets, and damages companies’ credibility and brand.
A Eurobarometer survey of businesses released by the European Union in June 2023 found that 65 per cent of companies in the EU think that the problem of corruption is widespread in their country.
Some 72 per cent agree that favouritism and corruption hamper business competition, and more than a third of companies considered corruption to be a serious problem when doing business in their country.
Corruption is bad for business, and governments cannot stamp out these crimes alone.
Private sector commitment and action are vital.
And when businesses clean up their act, everyone wins.
Fair competition opens doors to innovation and inclusiveness.
Fair business practices make it easier for companies to win the trust of investors and consumers.
We know that responsible companies are more resilient, contributing to longer-term economic growth and jobs creation.
To make significant progress, companies must address business integrity throughout their operations and supply chains, and in all their interactions with governments as well as with business partners.
And they must increase accountability by collaborating with civil society, including academia and youth groups.
To support businesses in these goals, UNODC is implementing business integrity projects in 17 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Activities include supporting anti-corruption education in Kenya, Mexico and Pakistan, to date reaching over 35,000 university students.
In the Middle East and North Africa, our anti-corruption training has engaged small businesses (SMEs), business federations, unions, and government authorities in six countries so far.
To make anti-corruption training more widely available to companies worldwide, UNODC and the UN Global Compact developed an interactive e-learning tool, called “Doing Business with Integrity”.
More than 400,000 people have already participated in the previous version of the course, called “The Fight against Corruption”, which is based on the UN Convention against Corruption and Principle Ten of the UN Global Compact, for which UNODC is the guardian.
A newly updated version will be launched soon.
We encourage companies to take advantage of this free course by using it as a mandatory training tool for employees and partners.
And to provide governments with a roadmap for promoting fair business practices, UNODC, the UN Global Compact and the OECD are developing a new Resource Guide on State Measures for Strengthening Corporate Integrity.
As the world marks the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention Against Corruption, the private sector is rising to the challenge, as we can see with the Call to Action from Business to Government on corruption, facilitated by the UN Global Compact.
Moving forward, I challenge business leaders to take more decisive and public action against corruption, to be an example for your industry peers.
I challenge you to be the changemakers, to go beyond legal and regulatory requirements, and adopt the highest level of business integrity.
I challenge you to join forces and unite against corruption.
Thank you.