Transparency Azerbaijan calls for business companies to join integrity initiative

Posted by: admin | Posted on: Февраль 23, 2015

On 23 February 2015, Transparency Azerbaijan, under the framework of the European Union-funded regional project «National Integrity System Assessment in the ENP East countries», organised a roundtable event to present to the Azerbaijani business community a framework document on «Business Principles for Countering Bribery». At the event, Rena Safaraliyeva, Executive Director of Transparency Azerbaijan, called on Azerbaijani companies to sign on to the framework document, underlining the importance of companies to adopt measures to ensure they operate in an environment free of corruption.

According to the framework document, companies should develop and implement an anti-bribery programme to counter the risk of bribery. Effective anti-bribery programmes help to mitigate the risk of bribery, while also strengthening the company’s reputation, building mutual respect amongst employees, raising credibility with key stakeholders, and supporting the company’s commitment to honest and responsible behaviour. Mr. Anar Hajizade, Head of Corporative Management Division, Ministry of Economy and Industry said that the government supports business-civil society cooperation on transparency in the private sector, and Mr Jeroen Williems, Head of Cooperation at EU Delegation to Azerbaijan welcomed the participants and stated that the European Union supports the involvement of businesses in integrity initiatives.

In July 2014, Transparency Azerbaijan released the report “National Integrity System Assessment in Azerbaijan”, which showed that the Azerbaijani business community performs a passive role in tackling corruption in Azerbaijan. At the roundtable event, Muradov Mahammad, the coordinator of the National Integrity System Assessment, again stressed that companies should be committed to incorporating values such as integrity, transparency and accountability into their internal management systems, and should also be committed to supporting anti-corruption activities within their Corporate Social Responsibility policies in order to positively affect the business environment in which they operate. At the event, Mahammad presented the framework document to representatives of the private sector and engaged in a discussion with all relevant stakeholders present.

The framework document on «Business Principles for Countering Bribery» should be understood as a declaration of intent for companies to fight corruption. By signing on to this declaration, all companies should commit to eliminating direct as well as indirect corruption within the business environment in which it operates. At the same time, companies should take on the obligation to implement an anti-corruption action programme. To this effect, Transparency Azerbaijan is committed to supporting companies with methodological tools to assess the effectiveness of their anti-corruption action programme and will also provide recommendations and trainings to solve problems highlighted from the internal assessment.