On September 13-16, a delegation of Uzbekistan headed by Akmal Burkhanov, Director of the Anti-Corruption Agency, visited Japan to establish partnership relations between the competent authorities of the two countries and discuss specific mechanisms for the exchange of experience in the future.

For these purposes, meetings were organized with the heads of government agencies, international organizations and educational institutions engaged in combating corruption in Japan.

In particular, on September 13, Akmal Burkhanov held a series of meetings, in particular with Naoshi Sugiyama, President of Nagoya University, Seiichi Matsuo, former President of Nagoya University, the founding chancellor of Tokai National Higher Education and Research System, Haruo Saburi, President of the Nagoya University of Economics, as well as with Dai Yokomizo, President of the Center for Asian Legal Exchange, CALE.

For reference: Nagoya University is one of the top ten universities among 775 national, public and private institutions of higher education in Japan. The university ranks 112th in the ranking of the most prestigious universities in the world and 28th in Asia.

The Center for Asian Legal Exchange (CALE) helps Asian countries create legal systems for the effective implementation of the state-building process. The Center develops legal aid projects in cooperation with the Government of Japan.

During the meetings, agreements were reached on establishing cooperation by holding seminars and trainings on combating corruption with the involvement of experts and professors from Japanese universities, supporting the activities of the Virtual Anti-Corruption Academy, and organizing short-term internships for civil servants in Japan.

A special presentation of the anti-corruption policy implemented in Uzbekistan was held for representatives of Japanese scientific and academic circles.

On September 14, at a meeting with Keiichiro Nakazawa, JICA Senior Vice President, the parties discussed the development of a joint project to prevent and combat corruption in the healthcare sector, improve anti-corruption legislation within the framework of the project. An agreement was also reached on cooperation in creating an electronic platform for evaluating the activities of regional anti-corruption councils.

On the same day, Akmal Burkhanov held meetings with Yumi Yoshikawa, Parliamentary Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Yuko Kamovoto, head of the National Personnel Authority. 

During these meetings, the Japanese side highly appreciated the ongoing anti-corruption reforms in Uzbekistan, expressed its readiness to support the measures taken and close cooperation in this field. In particular, an agreement was reached on the preparation of a special manual for the introduction of an integrity vaccine for civil servants in Uzbekistan together with the National Personnel Authority of Japan.

For reference: In Japan, all public officials are defined in the constitution as servants of the whole community, and they are absolutely obliged to perform their duties unquestioningly and fairly. In accordance with the National Civil Service Law, the National Personnel Authority was established as a neutral and specialized organization responsible for ensuring fairness in personnel management and protecting the rights of public officials.

On September 15, at meetings with the Minister of Justice of Japan Yasuhiro Hanashi, Attorney General Yukio Kai and Deputy Commissioner General of the National Police Agency Y. Ogata, agreements were reached on conducting an anti-corruption expertise of legal documents, assessing corruption risks in the activities of government agencies, continuous cooperation to identify the causes of corruption and their factors, as well as the use of information technology in these processes.

The meetings also focused on the system of coordination of anti-corruption activities of government agencies, the introduction of international anti-corruption standards into the national legislation of Uzbekistan, interaction with the non-governmental sector and academic circles.

On September 16, Akmal Burkhanov met with Irie Junko, Deputy Director of the United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, UNAFEI.

For reference: Since 2007, UNAFEI has been holding an annual Regional Seminar on Good Governance to promote the rule of law and good governance in the countries of Southeast Asia. The purpose of the seminar is to explore ways to strengthen legal systems and anti-corruption measures in the region.

The Institute has an international training course on combating corruption in criminal justice. The training covers such important issues as the current state of corruption, current problems related to corruption in the criminal justice system and ways to solve them, problems and solutions at the level of investigation and prosecution, general measures to prevent corruption and international cooperation in this field.

The meeting discussed the issues of conducting training courses, developing programs and implementing joint activities in the field. Moreover, the issues of establishing the practice of continuous training of the Agency’s employees on combating corruption in criminal proceedings were also discussed.

Press Office

The Anti-Corruption Agency