This is essential because raising awareness about the issues is indispensable to efforts to prevent and combat corruption. We will develop a consensus on country benchmarks embedded in a regional context, on codes of conduct and best practices, and indicators of accountability. Often, lack of action is not equivalent to lack of willingness to fight corruption. To achieve these objectives, we will develop a regional program of governance and anti-corruption initiatives, with the aim of identifying and implementing effective methodologies, demonstrating the positive impact of good governance, and creating momentum for an expanded set of activities. We will establish a regional partnership network on governance and anti-corruption, comprising representatives from governments, civil society, private sector, and development agencies, to build a consensus on relevant benchmarks, best practices and codes of conduct, and to review progress on achieving better results in the region.
Partnership is essential.
Only a coordinated and integrated approach in the region will bear fruit. We will base our work with individual member countries on structured and comprehensive assessments of the overall governance issues in collaboration with domestic civil society and with other development agencies. Our policy dialogue, which will accompany our lending activities, will be the powerful instrument for understanding, dialogue, effective decision taking and implementation. ADB's action plan to combat corruption in the Region is ambitious. However, we have strong allies in our member countries.