Press Release
May 28, 2013

ANGARA TO PROMOTE GOOD GOVERNANCE AND ANTI-CORRUPTION AGENDA IN OECD FORUM

Paris, France--Senator Edgardo J. Angara is slated to participate in the 2013 Forum of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to be held Paris from May 28 to 29, 2013.

Angara will act as discussion leader and facilitate an OECD_IdeaFactory session entitled "(Re)Building Trust," to be attended by an international mix of academics, civil society leaders, journalists, activists, representatives from the private sector, government officials and fellow parliamentarians.

The outgoing senator, who was recently elected Chairman of the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC), is expected to open up a free-flowing discussion on how parliamentarians can help promote good governance and push for an anti-corruption agenda at the local, national, regional and even international levels.

"A society is better able to drive economic growth and promote social cohesion when it is able to cultivate trust among all of its sectors--among government and its people or even between the public and private sectors," said Angara.

"And in this day and age, building trust in society has become a matter of fighting corruption and upholding transparency and accountability in government--an area which parliamentarians and local officials can definitely play a key role."

The veteran lawmaker explained that there is growing consensus on the matter, highlighting the Manila Declaration against corruption which was signed during the 2013 GOPAC Conference held earlier this year in Manila.

He said, "Lawmakers from close to 70 countries expressed their support for the Manila Declaration this year, which among other things, underscored the importance of the widespread adoption of legal instruments that obligate state-to-state cooperation against corruption and enable the international community-at-large to prosecute perpetrators. As corruption has become a global plight, the drive to combat it might as well be a global endeavor."

Before arriving in Paris, Angara headed a delegation from GOPAC at the Annual Conference of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund held at Baku, Azerbaijan.

He took a central role and moderated over discussions on the role parliamentarians have in the effectiveness of developmental aid received by developing economies from donor nations, by maintaining oversight over donor-funded developmental projects.

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