G20 Business Summit

B20 France (2011)

Business participation in the G20 South Korea cycle in 2010 took the form of the B20 Cannes Business Summit. There were no taskforces in this year.

B20 recommendations

Excerpts from the B20 statement or policy document on anti-corruption in this B20 cycle.

Policy document: Cannes B20 Business Summit report 2011

Anti-Corruption: Corruption is an intolerable impediment to the efficiency of the global economy, to fair competition among companies of all sizes and nationalities, and to sustainable global development. Such illicit behavior is an obvious cause of distortion of competitive markets as well as the hampering of economic growth and efforts to eradicate poverty.

We have identified four initiatives that can move the fight against corruption forward on a global basis. They are:

Create a G20/B20 joint platform, supported by an explicit business commitment and accountable to G20 and B20 leaders, to maintain an ongoing, multiyear dialogue.
Building on the Seoul Action Plan, G20 governments should 1) accelerate their commitment to ratify, enforce and monitor the implementation of the OECD and UN conventions on anticorruption; 2) support negotiations within the WTO for a multilateral agreement on standards for procedures and transparency in government procurement; 3) incentivize enterprises to establish effective policies and procedures to prevent corruption, and 4) recognize public bodies and officials that demonstrate leadership in fighting corruption.
Business must also play its part. The B20 undertakes to identify and launch appropriate collective action processes to address problems linked to specific country or regional contexts and industry sectors. The B20 also will promote the sharing of best practices, training materials and resources: 1) among the various sector-specific initiatives; 2) with public sector entities implementing integrity programs to combat the demand side of corruption; and 3) with small- and medium-sized entities lacking the experience and resources of multinational companies.
Business and government must work together to raise awareness of the costs and risks of corruption, especially by promoting education on ethics and business integrity at all level of public and private education.

G20 commitments

Excerpts from the G20 leaders’ statement relevant to anti-corruption.

Final Communiqué of the Leaders (source)

We have made significant progress in implementing the Action Plan on combating corruption, promoting market integrity and supporting a clean business environment. We underline the need for swift implementation of a strong international legislative framework, the adoption of national measures to prevent and combat corruption and foreign bribery, the strengthening of international cooperation in fighting corruption and the development of joint initiatives between the public and the private sector.

Cannes Summit Final Declaration: Intensifying our Fight against Corruption (source)

Corruption is a major impediment to economic growth and development. We have made significant progress to implement the G20 Anti-Corruption Action Plan. We endorse our experts’ report, annexed to this Declaration, which outlines the major steps taken both by individual countries and the G20 collectively, and sets out further actions required to ensure that G20 countries continue to make positive progress against the Action Plan. In this context:
We welcome the ratification by India of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). We also welcome the decision made by Russia to join the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. We commit to accelerate the ratification and implementation of UNCAC and to have a more active engagement within the OECD Working Group on Bribery on a voluntary basis. We further commend the member countries which are taking steps in the spirit of the Action Plan;

We commend the first reviews on the implementation of UNCAC. We commit to lead by example in ensuring the transparency and inclusivity of UNCAC reviews by considering the voluntary options in accordance with the Terms of Reference of the Mechanism, notably with regards to the participation of civil society and transparency;
We support the work of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to continue to identify and engage those jurisdictions with strategic Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) deficiencies and update and implement the FATF standards calling for transparency of cross-border wires, beneficial ownership, customer due diligence and enhanced due diligence;
We agree on a work program which includes a framework for asset recovery, building on the World Bank’s Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative, whistle-blowers’ protection, denial of entry to corrupt officials and public sector transparency, including fair and transparent public procurement, with concrete results by the end of 2012.

We welcome initiatives aimed at increasing transparency in the relationship between private sector and government, including voluntary participation in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). We also acknowledge the steps taken by some of us to request companies in the extractive industry to publish what they pay in countries of operation and to support the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST).
We commend the enhanced engagement of the private sector to fight against corruption. We welcome the commitments by the B20 to build on our Action Plan and urge them to take concrete action.
We hold ourselves accountable for our commitments and will review progress at our next Summit.