Siemens said it has teamed up with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to promote integrity and openness throughout the countries in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Under a three-year agreement focusing on clean business practices and compliance measures, Siemens will link with UNDP which works on these areas in more than 100 countries as part of its broader efforts to reduce poverty and promote development.

“Siemens stands for top performance with the highest ethical standards, worldwide and in the Middle East region,” said Erich Kaeser, CEO of Siemens Middle East.

“With the Siemens Integrity Initiative we are promoting integrity and fair competition,” he remarked.

Based on a settlement between the World Bank and Siemens AG agreed on July 2, 2009, the Siemens Integrity Initiative provides support and funding for 30 projects around the world.

As per the agreement, Siemens will provide $1.8 million in funding over the next three years to UNDP which will scale up existing anti-corruption efforts and enable non-governmental organizations to become active in developing, implementing and monitoring anti-corruption strategies in the region.

UNDP will provide partners with knowledge, skills and resources to encourage compliance with standards and reduce corruption risks between the public and the private sectors, explained Kaeser.

The joint initiative, he said, will place an emphasis on the role of local actors in confronting corruption which negatively affects those living in poverty around the world and can undermine business transactions and relationships in countries attempting to attract investment.

Ultimately, this co-operation will contribute to improve the ability of stakeholders to generate data on corruption in the Arab region and support them in implementing the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which is ratified by 15 Arab countries, and reduce corruption risks in key sector including health, water, and education.

“The achievement of the Millennium Development Goals requires the intensification of anti-corruption efforts in the public and private sectors”, said Adel Abdellatif, chief of the UNDP Regional Programme in Arab States.

“Our partnership with Siemens is an important step in making these efforts more impactful in the Arab region,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service