The Legal Department and the Special Office in Europe of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), jointly with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and in cooperation with the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Government of Brazil, will hold an international forum on May 5-6 on the best way to implement conflict-of-interest policies in the Public Service in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Conflicts of interest have become a key issue in public debate worldwide. New forms of conflict between the individual private interests of public officials and their public duties arise as the public sector becomes increasingly commercialized and works more closely with the business and non-profit sectors. When conflict-of-interest situations are not properly identified and managed, they can seriously endanger the reputation of government organizations and result in corruption.
The Forum organized by IDB and OECD will review experiences in designing and implementing conflict of interest policies in the public service, explore practical approaches in the application of policy guidelines, and identify conditions for success to put conflict-of-interest policy into practice in the national context.
During the Forum will be presented a comparative study that will provide an insight on current practices in the Americas, and five country studies (on Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico) that will enable participants to review and analyze specific policy approaches, management strategies and administrative practices. The documents can be downloaded from the OCDE webpage (www.oecd.org/gov/ethics).
The case study dedicated to Brazil analyzes, among other factors, the impact of Code of Conduct of the High Federal Administration and the Law of Administrative Improbity on the country’s public services, and the effectiveness of two institutions that have the responsibility of enforcing such rules, that is the Commission of Public Ethics and the Public Prosecution.
Among the key-speakers that will attend the forum are: Odile Sallard (Director, Public Governance and Territorial Development, OECD, Paris), James Spinner, General Counsellor, Legal Department, IDB, Washington, José Dirceu de Oliveira Silva, Minister-Chief of Staff to the President, Brazil, Mr. Waldir Pires, Minister Chief of the Office of the Controller General, João Geraldo Piquet Carneiro, President of the Public Ethics Commission, Brazil, and Carlos Lessa, President of Brazilian Development Bank, Brazil.
The two-day forum will take place at the headquarters of the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) in Rio de Janeiro, (Avenida República do Chile 100).