Head of the NACP Oleksandr Novikov meets with Charles Duchamp, Director of the Anti-Corruption Agency of France

The third day of the 9th Conference of the States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption featured the meetings of Ukraine’s delegation headed by Oleksandr Novikov, Head of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention, with the Director of Anti-Corruption Agency of France (AFA) Charles Duchaine.

During the working meeting, the parties discussed the structure of the system of corruption prevention and the development of anti-corruption programs in France. 

According to French experts, the AFA  conducts 35 verifications of state enterprises, governmental institutions, and businesses annually. The director of the AFA decides himself,  which institutions will be verified each year. In order to avoid bias, the law guarantees the director’s full independence. 

“Anti-corruption programs are a universal tool to build integrity not only in the state institutions but also in the business sector. Ukraine and France use very similar strategies – we develop typical anti-corruption programs and control their implementation. Therefore, it is particularly useful for us to share best practices in this sphere”, said Oleksandr Novikov. 

The usage of IT tools in anti-corruption practices, one of the issues voiced during the conference, became the other topic discussed at the meeting. The parties paid special attention to the development of digital platforms and courses related to integrity education. Also, representatives of the NACP spoke about IT tools that help to build a culture of integrity in the public sector. 

The parties agreed to continue cooperation and discussed a potential visit of the Ukrainian delegation to France to learn more on the experience of implementation of anti-corruption programs in government agencies, state enterprises and businesses in the country. 

During the Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption, the Head of the NACP also held the meetings with delegations from Jordan, Romania, Serbia, and Croatia, as well as representatives of the UN Development Programme and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.