Vienna (Austria), 17 October 2019 - The United Nations and the National Commission of Supervision of the People's Republic of China signed a memorandum of understanding today on cooperation in combating corruption.
The new agreement will allow the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and China to strengthen cooperation on the implementation of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in key areas such as prevention, criminal justice responses to corruption offences, law enforcement cooperation and stolen asset recovery.
The Representative of the UNODC Executive Director, John Brandolino, Director of the Division for Treaty Affairs, said: "Corruption is a formidable barrier to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, while good governance is an accelerator for all the SDGs. With a decade left for the world to deliver on the 2030 Agenda, and just ahead of the 8 th Conference of the States Parties to UNCAC this December, we welcome the new UN-China cooperation agreement, which will help improve our joint knowledge and respective actions against corruption."
Yang Xiaodu, Chairman of the National Commission of Supervision, said: "China strongly values the authority of the UN in the global anti-corruption governance framework and supports the UNCAC as the main avenue for international anti-corruption cooperation. China stands ready to further strengthen communication with the UN system so as to jointly ensure the effective and better functioning of the UNCAC Implementation Review Mechanism and step up practical cooperation with the UN in the areas of fugitive repatriation, asset recovery, the building of a 'clean Silk Road', anti-corruption research and capacity building."
Under the agreement, UNODC and China will enhance information sharing with respect to research and best practices on the prevention of corruption, trends in international judiciary and law enforcement cooperation related to corruption offences, and stolen asset recovery. Joint training, capacity building programmes and support through projects such as the UNODC and World Bank Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) are envisioned.
UNODC and China will also reinforce dialogue and communication on the implementation of UNCAC and work on establishing a communication platform to facilitate exchanges among anti-corruption authorities of UNCAC States parties. Bilateral meetings will be held every six months to advance collaborative projects and review progress.
As the guardian of the UN Convention against Corruption, UNODC supports countries' efforts to fully implement the Convention by providing legislative and technical assistance. China was among the first signatories of UNCAC and ratified the Convention in 2006.
