From 10 to 23 February, Mr. Thomas Stelzer, Dean and Executive Secretary of IACA, paid a working visit to Panama, Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras to strengthen relations with Latin America and to promote IACA’s new academic programme in Spanish - Máster en Estudios Anticorrupción y Compliance (MACC) .
IACA strives to make its educational and training opportunities more accessible, financially, geographically, and linguistically. The Academy is enhancing its scholarship system, developing more online activities, and has started to deliver various educational activities in languages other than English.
During the trip, Mr. Stelzer met with various government officials, as well as representatives of the private sector and academia. Discussions focused on enhancing cooperation between the Academy and stakeholders in Latin America. In particular, concrete ways to expand the outreach of IACA’s capacity-building programmes and technical assistance activities were explored, including in the context of the efforts in the region to achieve the goals set out in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
In Panama, Mr. Stelzer met with Ms. Elsa Fernandez Aguilar, Director General of the National Authority of Transparency and Access to Information (ANTAI); H.E. Ms. Ana Luisa Castro, Vice Minister of Multilateral Affairs and Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Mr. Mahmad Daud and Ms. Delia De Castro Díaz Senior Prosecutors of the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and the Secretariat for Criminal Prosecution Policy of the Prosecutor General's Office; and Prof. Francisco Javier Blanco Lopezuazo, Rector of Universidad Católica Santa María la Antigua (USMA).
Mr. Stelzer travelled next to Mexico, where he met with Ms. Martha Delgado, Vice minister for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights; Mr. Roberto Salcedo Aquino, Secretary of the Civil Service; Dr. Maria de la Luz Mijangos, Head of the Specialised Prosecutor's Office for Combating Corruption, Office of the Prosecutor-General of the Republic; Mr. Alejandro Celorio, Legal Adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Mr. Kristian Hölge, Representative of UNODC in Mexico; Mr. Carlos Alberto Pérez Cuevas, Chair for the Americas and Mexico of the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC); Ms. Vania Pérez Morales and Mr. Jorge Alberto Alatorre, Members of the Citizen Participation Committee of the National Anticorruption System; and Dr. Ana Covarrubias Velasco, Director of the Centre for International Studies of El Colegio de México. Mr. Stelzer also had meetings with investigative journalists and civil society organizations.
Furthermore, on 18 February, Mr. Stelzer recorded a podcast in Spanish on
” with the radio programme of the Instituto Matias Romero.
In El Salvador, Mr Stelzer met with Mr. Felix Ulloa, Vice-President of El Salvador. He also held meetings with civil society organizations as well as representatives of higher education institutions and Salvadorian foreign service personnel.
Finally, in Honduras, Mr. Stelzer met with H.E. Mr. Gerardo Torres, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Policy Affairs and had multilateral meetings with representatives of intergovernmental institutions, cooperating partners, diplomatic corps, academia and civil society.
In addition, on behalf of IACA, Mr. Stelzer signed two memoranda of understanding. First, on 17 January, with the National Commission of Human Rights of Mexico represented by its head, Ms. María del Rosario Piedra Ibarra, and the second, on 23 February, with the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Honduras (UNAH) represented by its Rector, Mr. Francisco Herrera Alvarado.
These MoUs are important tools of cooperation that set the overall framework for closer collaboration in fighting and preventing corruption. Forms of cooperation under the MoU may include, inter alia, joint initiatives aimed at preventing and combating corruption, convening meetings, information sharing, promoting capacity, research projects, and other activities in the areas of anti-corruption and compliance.