Tashkent hosted the Fourth Meeting of the Heads of Anti-Corruption Agencies and Ombudsmen of the Economic Cooperation Organization member states. More than 40 representatives of authorized agencies attended the event.

The participants of the meeting exchanged regional experience in combating corruption, the development and implementation into the practice of the mechanism of a unified anti-corruption policy between the ECO member states.

ECO is an intergovernmental regional organization encompassing countries from Europe, Caucuses and Central Asia, Middle East and South Asia with more than 460 million inhabitants and over 8 million square kilometers connecting Russia to the Persian Gulf and China to Europe. The overall objective of the Organization is the sustainable economic development of its Member States and the Region as a whole. Established as Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD) in 1964 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, the Organization was rechristened as “ECO” in 1985.

Currently, ten countries from West and South Asia, Caucuses and Central Asia are Members of the Organization. They are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

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The participants considered organizational issues of the regional center’s activities. It was decided to locate the center in Tehran (Iran). It will coordinate the interaction of the heads of anti-corruption agencies and the ombudsmen of the member states. The regional center will also assist countries with organizational issues related to the anti-corruption system.

At the event, mechanisms for the implementation of agreements within the framework of a Memorandum of Cooperation between the Anti-Corruption Agency of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Agency for State Financial Control and Anti-Corruption of the Republic of Tajikistan, signed during the visit of the President of Uzbekistan to this country, were discussed. A Memorandum of Cooperation was signed with Kazakhstan to further strengthen relations in this direction.

Following the meeting, the Tashkent Declaration was adopted. It reflects the ways of supporting cooperation in combating corruption between the ECO member states, the organization of meetings, agreements and discussions between representatives of relevant agencies to solve existing problems.

Saidmurod Rakhimov, UzA