Kazakhstan will buy integrity for 286.7 thousand euros
The authorities of Kazakhstan intend to buy integrity from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The draft agreement on this was published by the Anti-Corruption Service of Kazakhstan on the portal “Open normative legal acts”.
The explanatory note says that Kazakhstan intends to sign an agreement with the OECD (this organization includes 37 countries, most of which are members of the European Union) concerning the implementation of the Integrity Review project.
“The adoption of the project will allow Kazakhstan to implement the OECD best practices in the field of public integrity. The project implementation period is 2021-2022. The Integrity Review will support Kazakhstan in building a comprehensive and consistent system of integrity, placing national and regional initiatives, as well as international recommendations, under a clear, conscious and effective system,” the explanatory note says.
It also notes that the acquisition of OECD practices in the field of integrity will cost Kazakhstan 286.7 thousand euros; of these, 150 thousand euros will be transferred to the OECD in 2021. The second tranche [136,700 euros] will be paid in 2022.
For this money, the authorities of Kazakhstan intend to receive an overview of the policies and practices of the professional ethics system of the country’s government, three capacity building workshops on key issues, an action plan for reforms and a progress report reflecting the development of Kazakhstan in the implementation of the OECD recommendations.
The most remarkable thing is that the Anti-Corruption Service took the Kazakh public to discuss this agreement online for only 9.5 hours.
It should be recalled that cooperation between Kazakhstan and the OECD began in 2008 within the framework of the Eurasian Competitiveness Program, which includes 13 countries of Central Asia, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe.
In 2011, Kazakhstan was invited by the OECD to participate in the work of the Steering Committee of the Central Asian Initiative of the OECD’s Eurasian Competitiveness Program (CAI), provided that the country becomes a donor to this Program. The project cost was 800 thousand euros.
From 2013 to 2016, Kazakhstan was co-chair of the Central Asian Initiative of the OECD Eurasian Competitiveness Program together with the European Union.
In 2018, the memorandum of understanding and cooperation was signed between Kazakhstan and the OECD.
In February 2020, the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with OECD Secretary General Jose Angel Gurria. As Tokayev has noted, Kazakhstan attaches great importance to the implementation of OECD standards and will continue to actively interact with the organization in the implementation of political and economic reforms.
