OSCE trains officials in Kazakhstan on assessing corruption risks

ASTANA, 24 November 2015 – Best practices in reducing corruption are the focus of a two-day OSCE-supported training seminar that began today in Astana.

The event is organized by the OSCE Programme Office in Astana in partnership with the Agency of Civil Service Affairs and Anti-corruption and with the support of the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (OCEEA).

Roel Janssens, Economic Adviser at the OCEEA and Igoris Kržečkovskis, former Chairperson of the Council of the European Union’s Working Group on Combating Fraud, familiarized some 30 representatives of the Agency and its territorial departments in the country’s regions with the international experience and standards on identifying and assessing corruption risks in governmental institutions.

“Identifying and minimizing the risks of corruption combined with analysis of its conditions and causes are key elements of any anti-corruption policy,” said Natalia Zarudna, Head of the OSCE Programme Office. “International experience shows that the number of countries that use risk-assessment tools is growing and this method has been widely recognized as effective.”

Sayan Akhmetzhanov, Deputy Chairperson of Kazakhstan’s Agency for Civil Service Affairs and Anti-Corruption stated the Agency developed this year new methodology to analyse corruption risks. “Currently, the activities of seven ministries are subject to such analysis, and a number of systemic corruption risks in governmental institutions have been identified. We also proposed recommendations and prepared an action plan to address them,"

Participants also reviewed the manual that was developed with OSCE support on the available methodology and best practices on analyzing corruption risks in the public sector and developed recommendations on enhancing anti-corruption efforts.

The event is part of the OSCE Programme Office’s long-standing support to Kazakhstan in countering corruption.