The Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) expressed grave concern, as most of the leading trade and investment partner countries of Bangladesh had been systematically failing to take actions against bribery in international trade.
The entity also alerted the government about the need to play its due role, and urged to be vigilant and take all preventive measures against corruption deals in foreign trade and investment.
Referring to a report - "Exporting Corruption 2022: Assessing Enforcement of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention" - released by the Berlin-based TI Secretariat on 11 October, the TIB on Thursday called upon the defaulting countries to address weaknesses in their relevant laws and ensure stringent enforcement.
The biennial report assessed the performance of 47 leading global exporters, of which 43 were parties to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, and four others were leading global exporters - China, India, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
According to the main findings of the report, 20 of the assessed countries, which together account for nearly 40 per cent of annual global exports, had taken little or no enforcement action against foreign bribery during the period of the survey.
Citing it, TIB Executive Director (ED) Dr Iftekharuzzaman said, "The most important thing for Bangladesh is, the defaulting countries include some of the top trade and investment partners of Bangladesh, like India, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore. This must be treated as an alarm bell for Bangladesh."
"It is deeply disappointing that our trade and investment are so worryingly exposed to corruption due to continued failures of our partner countries, many of whom are ironically perceived to be ranked better than us as per most of the available internationally credible corruption indicators."
"We call upon them to practice what they preach, and ensure that their legal and institutional systems are strong and effective enough to be consistent with their international pledges," he noted.
"We expect them to be able to do everything in their capacity to ensure that their corruption is no longer exported to countries like ours."
The TIB ED further said, "On the other hand, the TIB also strongly believes that Bangladesh doesn't need to remain hostage to the failure of its trade and investment partners."
"We call upon our government to be robustly vigilant to ensure that all measures are taken to prevent corruption-driven illicit deals in our international trade and investment relations."
The TI report ranked only Switzerland and the US as 'active enforcers', though far from perfect.
Countries in the 'lowest performers' category include Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Poland, Slovakia, and Turkey.
Notable among the second worst category of 'limited enforcers' include Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, and Sweden; while those among the 'moderate enforcers' are Australia, France, Germany, Norway, and the UK.
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