KUWAIT: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) highlighted the Kuwaiti government's efforts to tackle corruption, praising resulting strategies aimed at enhancing transparency and promoting integrity. UNDP Resident Representative in Kuwait Hideko Hadzialic said this work is represented by Kuwait's Anti-Corruption Authority, Nazaha, in partnership with the General Secretariat of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development and the UNDP.

This cooperation, she said, has resulted in the formation of the Kuwait Integrity and Anti-Corruption Strategy 2019-2024 to enhance the principles of transparency, accountability, the rule of law in the public and private sectors in a way that contributes to achieving sustainable development.

The successful implementation of this strategy, she explained, would help Kuwait to mobilize further resources required to achieve its New Kuwait 2035 Vision development plan and a higher degree of commitment to the provisions of the UN Convention Against Corruption with regard to preventive measures, law enforcement, international cooperation and the recovery of funds.

A day ahead of International Anti-Corruption Day, which falls today, she said bribes cost governments one trillion dollars a year, while the value of the sums wasted amounts to more than 2.5 trillion dollars - equal to five percent of the global GDP. Meanwhile, the head of Nazaha Abdulaziz Al-Ibrahim stressed the importance of concerted state institution and civil society efforts to bring the economic and development situation to broader horizons. - KUNA