South Korea and the UN Development Programme have launched the findings of a pilot Anti-Corruption Initiative Assessment for Sri Lanka, introducing a framework for public institutions to evaluate their own integrity practices, identify risk areas and design corrective measures, The Island reported on Sunday.
The US$100,000 programme was rolled out as a pilot under the SDG Partnership Project on Transparency and Accountability, jointly with Korea’s Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, the UNDP Seoul Policy Centre, the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) and UNDP Sri Lanka. The launch took place at BMICH on Friday.
Speaking at the event, Korean Ambassador Miyon Lee said anti-corruption efforts should be treated as a whole-of-government responsibility supported by systems that strengthen integrity, reduce discretionary power and reward improved performance. Licensing, procurement, taxation, customs and regulatory approvals were the critical areas where assessments could reduce uncertainty and build investor confidence, she said.
South Korea’s domestic integrity model is run annually across hundreds of public bodies, including local authorities, educational and medical institutions, public corporations and councils. The 2024 exercise covered 716 institutions and drew responses from around 300,000 citizens and public officials, the ambassador said.
Ambassador Lee said Sri Lanka should now build on the pilot by developing locally tailored assessment tools as part of broader reforms aimed at attracting investment and modernising the public sector.
The initiative joins a widening set of CIABOC-anchored reform tracks, including a June 30 asset declaration deadline and the commission’s recently-tightened warning on misleading declarations. It also formalises Seoul’s growing technical-assistance role in Sri Lanka’s governance reform agenda, complementing the resumed E-8 seasonal worker programme and the US$267 million EDCF debt-restructuring deal signed last month.
Source: The Island.
