The IACA Regional Summer Academy – Middle East came to a successful close in Kuwait City on Thursday, receiving highly positive feedback from anti-corruption and compliance professionals across the region.
Tamer Abbas from the Administrative Control Authority of the Arab Republic of Egypt appreciated how the programme “has increased our knowledge and facilitated the sharing of experiences among competent bodies in different countries. This helps us combat and defeat corruption in our countries.”
Judge Maysam Al-Nuweiri, General Director of the Ministry of Justice of Lebanon, added: “The issues that were discussed are of significant importance to us and they do answer many questions that are raised in my country.”
Co-organized with the Kuwait Anti-Corruption Authority (NAZAHA), the five-day session attracted 55 participants from 14 countries and jurisdictions across the Middle East: Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates; and the State of Palestine.
It was specially designed to address regional challenges related to corruption, serve as a discussion forum for anti-corruption and compliance professionals in the Middle East, and build a platform for the establishment of regional practitioner networks. Prominent themes included good governance, public procurement, natural resources, asset recovery, and the links between culture and corruption.
Participants significantly contributed to the success of the training by actively engaging with their peers and with a diversified pool of expert lecturers from the region and beyond.
The latter included, among many others, H.E. Ambassador Muhyieddeen Shaban Touq from Jordan, former Chairman of the Ad-Hoc Committee for the United Nations Convention against Corruption and a current member of IACA’s Board of Governors.
At the closing ceremony the Austrian Ambassador to Kuwait, H.E. Mr. Sigurd Pacher, expressed his gratitude to IACA for choosing Kuwait as the venue for the training. Dr. Mohammed Buzubar, Secretary General of the Kuwait Anti-Corruption Authority, underlined the importance of its strategic cooperation with IACA, including possible similar initiatives in the future.
The participants now join the IACA Alumni association, an ever-growing global network of more than 1,500 professionals from 154 countries and jurisdictions. Following the completion of this programme IACA is pleased to welcome the first professionals from Qatar to its alumni network.
This was the third IACA Regional Summer Academy following previous sessions in Latin America (Argentina, 2015) and Eastern Africa (Uganda, 2016).