25.04.2013.
Workshop on Building Integrity and Reducing Corruption in Defence
In the Army Club of the Republic of Bulgaria in Sofia, from 23 to 25 April 2013, a workshop devoted to the issues of building integrity and reducing corruption in the defence was held.
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In the work of the second of three thematic workshops, carried out in the framework of NATO Initiative of Building Integrity in Defence, and the NATO Building Integrity Tailored Programme in the field of defence for the South Eastern Europe, 40 representatives from twelve countries (Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, Macedonia, Moldova, Slovenia, Serbia, Russian Federation, Ukraine and Montenegro) took part. The organizers of the gathering are the NATO International Secretariat, Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) and the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Bulgaria."Integrity in defence procurement for the needs of defence, use of resources and Public Private Partnerships" was the theme of the three-day work. Within five sessions, the following issues were addressed: principles and processes of procurement of defence capacities, defence industry as an ally of the defence sector in countering corruption, presence of the risk of corruption in the use of surplus arms, military equipment and defence infrastructure, the use of external resources (outsourcing), privatization and public-private partnerships as instruments to improve the efficiency of defence system and private military companies as a new factor in the affairs from the field of defence.
In the concluding day, the defence ministers of the republic of Bulgaria and Georgia, Todor Tagarev and Irakli Alasania, addressed the participants in the workshop.
Defence Ministers concluded that political will is the most important prerequisite for a successful fight against corruption. They also stressed that the launch of NATO's Building Integrity Initiative in the field of defence and the importance attached to this topic by Southeastern Europe Defence Ministerial Process (SEDM) are not based on the suspicion that the defence sector is one that is most affected by corruption, but rather on the belief that notions of honour, responsibility and discipline in it are best understood. Joint work at the level of the whole region, which would lead to the situation that the defence systems are even more prominent as promoters of transparent work, based on the laws and ethics, would create conditions to establish a standard below which other departments of the governments of Southeastern European countries may not be regulated.
Minister Tagarev particularly stressed that the possibility of joint work on a regional level will be clearly observed after the third workshop (in Belgrade from 18 to 20 June 2013) which is to complete the first cycle of the analysis of the needs.
