Dead Sea Shores, Dec. 10 (Petra)—Deputizing for His Majesty King Abdullah II, Prime Minister Marouf Al Bakhit opened at the Dead Sea Shores on Sunday the First “Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption”.

The five-day conference is aimed at improving the capacity of the participating states and related cooperation for achieving the convention’s goals, encouraging the states to implement them and reviewing the resultant extent of progress.

In his opening speech, the Prime Minister welcomed the conferees and conveyed greetings from the conference’s patron, His Majesty King Abdullah II.

Bakhit said hosting this significant conference embodied Jordan’s sincere drive to act with the international community for fighting corruption, which if not addressed properly at the national and international levels, would turn into a social culture threatening the security of both the society and state.

The premier added that since corruption with all its forms was closely associated with organized crime, therefore international cooperation and the exchange of experiences and information was of utmost importance in order to realize the principles of just and equality.

The premier cited the devastating influence of corruption on the political, economic and social life since it undermined the principles of good governance, democracy, the rule of law, development policies, elimination of investments and capitals and threatening security and peace in the society.

The prime minister underlined that the rampant corruption in the world reached an unprecedented level according to the World Bank, which estimated the volume of bribery at one trillion dollars annually while the International Monetary Fund estimated money laundering at 500 billion dollars annually, hence indicating the gravity of the corruption crime.

Bakhit emphasized that Jordan, guided by His Majesty the King, intensified efforts over the past few years to counter this scourge and exerted efforts to eradicate nepotism and favoritism so as to strengthen the principle of justice and equality, safeguard human dignity and ensure the process of economic development and decent livelihood to the citizens.

He noted that in line with the Anti-Corruption Convention which was ratified by Jordan last February, the government submitted the anti-corruption draft law which was endorsed by parliament and published in the official gazette.

Premier Bakhit noted that the government together with the parliament worked for endorsing the financial disclosure law and prepared draft laws for fighting money laundering, setting up grievances bureau and ensuring free access to information that would be passed by parliament in its ordinary session.

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