News Releases

Mar 19, 2007

IDB and Norway sign agreement for establishment of innovative anticorruption fund

The Inter-American Development Bank today signed an agreement with the Government of Norway for the establishment of the first Anticorruption Activities Fund under the Bank’s Program for Development of Technical Cooperation among Member Countries of the IDB.

This fund will substantially expand and improve the basis for cooperation between IDB and the Government of Norway to support anti-corruption and integrity activities among all of the IDB’s borrowing member countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Government of Norway will contribute US $4.9 million to this fund over a three-year period beginning this year. The fund will be used to provide financial support for new and innovative activities that leverage the use of transparency and access to information to combat corruption. 

With the support of the fund, a select number of projects will be launched that, if successful, can be replicated throughout the region.  These activities will directly support member countries own efforts to improve integrity as well as implement international anti-corruption conventions, including the UN Convention Against Corruption and the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption.

“The activities supported by this Fund will strengthen the IDB’s capacity to support it member countries’ ongoing efforts in improving overall governance and combating corruption,” said IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno while expressing his gratitude to the Government of Norway for their commitment to support the Bank and the region in its anticorruption efforts.

“Supporting efforts to promote integrity in the region through increased transparency and capacity building has always been a key objective of the Bank”, added Moreno. “We also aim to ensure that the countries can fulfill their commitments under the different conventions and that they implement them in an effective and harmonious way, taking into consideration the institutional challenges that applying these treaties represent.  Enhancements to transparency and access to information can lead to a major step forward in these efforts”

The signing ceremony was held during the Annual Meeting of the Boards of Governors of the IDB and the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC) taking place March 16-20, 2007 in Guatemala.

In addition to the agreement with the Norwegian Government, the IDB yesterday signed an agreement with the Organization of American States (OAS) to work together in the implementation of the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption (CICC for its acronym in Spanish).

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