Corruption affects and erodes the moral foundations of our society and it may delay Bulgaria on the road to European Union membership, said the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, Georgi Parvanov, in his address to the participants in the Global Compact +3: Business against Corruption National Forum, held on 18 April 2006 in Sofia. According to President Parvanov what is needed is joint and coordinated action on the part of all who truly want to eradicate or at least curb as much as possible this social evil.

The Global Compact National Forum, organized by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) jointly with the Bulgarian International Business Association (BIBA), the Bulgarian Business Leaders Forum (BBLF) and the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria (NAMRB) gathered more than 180 participants from the private sector, Bulgarian government, non-governmental organizations, business associations and media in the country. The forum served as the official launch of the tenth principle of the UN Global Compact initiative – the fight against corruption.

Dr. Huguette Labelle, Chair of Transparency International, addressed the Global Compact +3 National Forum with an appeal for stricter enforcement of anti-corruption laws. She said that billions of dollars sank in offshore companies and private persons thanks to corruption. Business has an extremely important role in the fight against corruption, said Huguette Labelle, because what it does is part of the chain which either contributes to or prevents corruption. More than 300 complaints alleging corruption have been accepted so far in the special anti-corruption parliamentary commission in Bulgaria, its chairman Mr. Boyko Velikov announced. Chairmen of the Bulgarian business associations presented the viewpoint and the role of the business in the fight against corruption.

The Bulgarian premiere of “Businesses against Corruption – A Framework for Action”, a joint publication of the Global Compact, the International forum of Business Leaders and Transparency International, detailing examples of how corrupt practices have been eradicated, also took place at the National Forum. Mr. Manuel Escudero from the Global Compact Office in New York presented the role of the Global Compact networks worldwide and the global impact of the Global Compact initiative. At the National Forum the new structure of the Bulgarian Global Compact Network was announced and its Advisory Board - democratically elected through a free nomination process on the Internet and comprising CEOs of leading companies in the country -- was presented.

The Global Compact, the voluntary initiative encouraging businesses, trade unions, UN agencies, civil society structures and other stakeholders to work jointly in support of a more sustainable and more inclusive global economy, was officially launched in Bulgaria under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Georgi Parvanov on 29 January 2003. As of beginning 2006 close to 100 Bulgaria companies and non-governmental organizations are members of the national network of the Global Compact and apply in their work the ten principles for respect of human rights, labour standards and the environment.

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For further information, please, contact:

Maya Nyagolova, Public Advocacy Officer, UNDP Bulgaria,

tel. 359 2 96 96 167, e-mail: maya.nyagolova@undp.org,

Ralitza Germanova, Global Compact,Bulgaria,

tel. 359 2 96 96 162, e-mail: ralitza.germanova@undp.org