Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 17 February 2021, the annual Parliamentary Hearings of the Inter-Parliamentary Union at the United Nations on the topic "Fighting corruption to restore confidence in the government and improve development prospects" opened in the format of a video conference.

The parliamentary hearings of the Inter-Parliamentary Union at the UN are designed to contribute by parliaments to the development of the Political Declaration of the special session of the UN General Assembly on the fight against corruption, which will be held in June in New York.

About 200 participants from over 60 countries take part in the Parliamentary Hearings.

At the opening of the Parliamentary Hearings, the chairman of the 75th session of the General Assembly Volkan Bozkyr and the chairman of the IPU Duarte Pacheco made speeches.

Corruption undermines people’s confidence in the rule of law and government institutions. It is both a symptom and a cause of weak democracies. Corruption in the public and private sectors exacerbates inequality, deprives public budgetary resources for health, education and other social goods, and distorts development outcomes that should benefit all people. Women, the poor and vulnerable groups bear the brunt of corruption.

Delia Ferreira Rubio, Chairman of the Board of Transparency International, presented information on how corruption undermines democracy and development of the country, as well as the need for parliament to participate in the fight against corruption.

Among the participants in the hearings are not only parliamentarians, but also UN officials, ambassadors, academics and representatives of civil society.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals include a commitment by states to substantially reduce corruption in all its forms.

During parliamentary hearings, parliamentarians considered issues such as: "Convention against Corruption: structure and implementation problems" and "Corruption involving a huge number of assets, also known as" major corruption ".

The First Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Vice-President of the Ministry of Railways A. Saidov takes part in the Parliamentary hearings.