Media Release: DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION
Date: 01 July 2008
Australia helping Vietnam fight corruption
Hanoi – Australia will provide up to $500,000 to help train senior members of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Government of Vietnam in fighting corruption the Australian Foreign Minister, Mr Stephen Smith, announced today during his two-day visit to Vietnam.
“Corruption is a major threat to Vietnam’s future economic growth and sustainable development”, said Mr Smith.
“It harms foreign investment and undermines the quality of basic health and education services and it hits the poor the hardest. Australia is working closely with Vietnam to assist implementation of its commitment to fighting corruption”, he said.
“The assistance I have announced today will support an inaugural training program for up to 25 senior Communist Party of Vietnam officials to strengthen Vietnam’s corruption prevention, detection and enforcement efforts. This support reflects the key role that the Communist Party of Vietnam plays in anti-corruption policy development and capacity building within government”, said Mr Smith.
“The training will be provided in Australia and will draw on our expertise which reflects international best practice”, said Mr Smith.
The new training program complements a number of Australian initiatives to combat corruption in Vietnam including work to improve the transparency of financial planning and better monitoring systems to track money flows.