Bosnia and Herzegovina ready to sign the United Nations Convention Against Corruption

Banja Luka, 05 September 2005 – After almost a year of intensive lobbying in the multi-level government institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Transparency International BiH has succeeded in persuading the joint Presidency of BiH and the leaders of the country’s Parliament to sign the UN Anti-Corruption Convention.

BiH was the only country in the region which has not signed the Convention almost two years since its adoption in Merida, Mexico on 09 and 10 December 2003. Following the series of diplomatic efforts of TI BiH and direct engagement with the political leaders, the Presidency of BiH at its session of 01 September instructed the country’s Foreign Minister Dr. Mladen Ivanic to sign the Convention on behalf of the BiH authorities at the occasion of the 60^th Meeting of the UN General Assembly, to be held in New York from 14 to 23 of September this year.

TI BiH will continue to co-operate with the governments at all levels with an aim to see the Convention ratified by the BiH Parliament and implemented throughout the country, while sensitising and educating BiH citizens to use all the tools which the Convention introduces in their strives to reduce the high level of corruption this country has been facing ever since end of the 1990s conflict.