EU to host anti-corruption meeting in Kabul ahead of donor summit

The EU Delegation to Afghanistan will on Thursday hold the sixth annual anti-corruption conference in order to take stock of results achieved in fighting corruption.

This comes ahead of next month’s donor pledging conference where the international community will meet to discuss financial assistance to Afghanistan for the period 2021 to 2024.

The EU said in a statement that in addition to the keynote addresses by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, UN Special Representative Deborah Lyons and EU Ambassador to Afghanistan Andreas Von Brandt, the conference will bring together experts, policy makers, civil society and international partners engaged in anti-corruption efforts in Afghanistan.

The conference is jointly organized by the Ministry of Finance, UNAMA and the EU Delegation to Afghanistan.

“Fighting corruption builds trust in a society, something Afghanistan is in dire need of. Soon, Afghan and international partners will meet at the upcoming Geneva Conference where anti-corruption is expected to be at the center of discussions and decisions.

“The conference here in Kabul serves as a starting point for the discussions in Geneva, and an opportunity to reflect on Afghanistan’s anti-corruption efforts. Some progress has been done, but there is more work to be done. I look forward to discussing this with representatives from civil society, the government and the international community,” EU Ambassador Andreas Von Brandt said.

This year’s conference has been integrated with the Afghanistan National Peace and Development Framework II (ANPDP II) workshop on effective governance and anti-corruption.

The aim is to provide inputs to the enrichment of ANPDF II when it comes to defining priorities of the Government in the fight against corruption for the next four years.