The opening will include high-level remarks from OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann and world leaders, highlighting the importance of strong political leadership in combatting corruption. • Mathias Cormann, Secretary-General, OECD • Rodrigo Chaves Robles, President, Costa Rica (by video) • Richard Nephew, Global Coordinator for Anticorruption, Department of State, USA • Vera Jourova, Vice-President for Values and Transparency, European Commission (by video) • Ronald Lamola, Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, South Africa • Delia Ferreira, Chair, Transparency International • Brad Smith, President, Microsoft (by video)

Trust and integrity are key to foster economic growth and innovation, and therefore are central to meeting long-term goals such as addressing climate change and the crisis of democracy. As we witness multiple social, political and economic disruptions around the world, renewed international commitments and action from all stakeholders is imperative to address corruption and foster a rules-based economy. Through a panel discussion, leaders in the public and private sectors as well as civil society will strategize on how they can work together to strengthen anti-corruption measures, stimulate a race-to-the-top and reinforce trust in the business environment.

Reinforcing democracy: the role of integrity amongst elected and appointed officials Integrity is an inherent value of democracy that ensures that government responds to the interests of the people. From elections to policy implementation, integrity of elected and appointed officials ensures that everybody has a voice, that the interests of constituencies are fairly represented, that there is no undue influence of government policies, and that government action is aligned with the public interest. This session will unpack how governments can further strengthen integrity in elections, political affairs, and policymaking.

Quality infrastructure is critical for supporting economic growth, enhancing prosperity and well-being. Over the next decade, trillions of dollars will be mobilized by public and private actors into infrastructure development to support a just transition, net zero goals and post-conflict reconstruction. However, infrastructure remains highly exposed to corruption, especially in at-risk contexts such as post-conflict environments, and can act as an enabler of serious human rights, labour and environmental abuses. This session will explore to harness multi-stakeholder solutions, such as the Infrastructure Anti-Corruption Toolbox, to address corruption, de-risk projects, ensure actors across the infrastructure lifecycle are incentivized to act with integrity and support the reconstruction of Ukraine.

This session will explore the application of machine learning and intelligent automation in identifying potential integrity vulnerabilities, accountability gaps, and other risks in climate projects. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) and CivicDataLab will delve into this realm of technical innovations and its profound impact on risk mitigation, funding decisions, and the prevention of prohibited practices like fraud and corruption within climate projects. The GCF will reflect on how it is capitalizing on innovations to develop machine learning modules to identify integrity risks, and a use case of how practitioners are applying these to critical infrastructure sectors in Jamaica. CivicDataLab will discuss how they are applying these innovations to enable data-driven decision making at scale in climate-related projects in India.

Corruption is a global, cross-cutting issue that the public and private sector must face together to guarantee a sustainable future and progress on the long-term challenges we are facing. Education and digital technologies can be powerful and mutually reinforcing tools in this regard. The “Zero Corruption” Manifesto launched by the Business at OECD (BIAC) Anti-corruption Committee in November 2022 recognizes the key role of these two factors by including them amongst the ten golden rules it sets for the fight of business against corruption. Since its publication, the manifesto has served as guide for BIAC’s work on this issue. Besides emphasizing the importance of tackling corruption to reach the SDGs at the OECD and other relevant organizations, BIAC has published a detailed brochure on how companies use digital tools in their fight against corruption and is planning a similar project for education. In this context, this side event will bring together representatives of the OECD and the global business community to discuss innovative ways of tackling corruption, looking specifically at the role that education and digital technologies can play. The event will be moderated by Nicola Allocca, Director Risk Management, Compliance and Business Continuity at Autostrade per l’Italia, and Chair of the Business at OECD Anti-Corruption Committee.

Providers of development co-operation have adopted a Zero Tolerance stance against corruption, but what does it entail? Views diverge as how best to operationalise this principle to strike a suitable balance between safeguarding development funds and attaining relevant development objectives. This session will clarify the meaning and value-added of the Zero Tolerance principle in development co-operation; identify progress made and lessons learned in corruption risk management; and review any challenges for further progress towards an effective application and calibration of the Zero Tolerance approach, as the basis for sustainable development.

Anti-corruption diligence has become integrated into legal and business operations. While many of its driving forces have pushed human rights diligence to the fore, the primary distinction has been the kind of broad legal mandate that exists in a number of domestic legislations and the related enforcement efforts. However, that is about to change, as mandatory due diligence laws are rapidly emerging, human rights is being integrated into other areas of international regulatory compliance, and human rights-related disputes continue to rise. The panel will focus on how the due diligence experience in anticorruption can be transposed to the human right agenda, as well as the limits of such synergies.