Senate Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro has stated that the United Nations Convention against corruption provided an adequate framework for international co-operation and our National Anti Corruption Strategy announced in 2002 has yielded positive results.
He made these observations as head of Pakistan's Parliamentary delegation at the Convocation of the 2006 Parliamentary Hearing at the United Nations, organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union during the 61st session of the UN General Assembly.
The theme of the parliamentary hearing was "Good governance and the fight against corruption - Key tools in the peace building and conflict prevention", according to a fax message here from New York.
The Senate chairman underlined the need for establishment of sustainable parliamentary institutions and observed that it would be a concrete step to ensure good governance and fight corruption.
Mohammedmian Soomro said that 140 countries were signatories to the Convention including Pakistan. However, at the national levels, the Senate chairman said that appropriate legislation should be undertaken to accommodate the provisions of the convention.
Referring to the results of various research studies undertaken in the past on the subject, Soomro pointed out that the results indicated that corruption negatively affects growth, efficiency, equity and welfare. The Senate chairman expressed the view that "No system is free of corruption but its effects are most destructive in the developing world".
The leader of Pakistani delegation stated that the first National Anti-Corruption Strategy announced by the government in 2002 was based on three principles ie Prevention, Monitoring and Combating. He said that implementation of this strategy had yielded positive results despite the fact that Pakistan had to come across certain impediments, which were international in nature. Those problems, he pointed out, were mainly attributed to diverse legal systems as adequately addressed in the report of the UN Secretary General.