On the initiative of Ms Irini Charalambidou, Vice President of the K.S. An international conference of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE CSCE) is being held in Cyprus on the theme "Fighting Corruption, Defending Democracy: The Role of National Parliaments". The conference will take place on 27 and 28 May at the International Conference Centre "Filoxenia".
The conference will be attended by parliamentarians from thirty OSCE participating States and OSCE partner countries. Cypriot government officials, as well as representatives of international organisations, non-governmental organisations and the media have also been invited to participate as speakers.
The opening conferences will be welcomed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives Mrs. Anita Demetriou, the President of the C.C. Ms Margareta Cederfelt, the OSCE Chairperson, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Ioannis Kasoulides, as well as the Vice-President of the CoR. OSCE Chairperson and Special Representative for Combating Corruption, Ms Irene Charalambidou. The Special Envoy of the current Polish Chairmanship of the OSCE, Ambassador Artur Dmochowski and the Secretary General of the CoE will also participate. Mr. Roberto Montella, OSCE Secretary General.
Keynote speakers at the first session of the conference, entitled "The role of national parliaments in preventing and fighting corruption", will be Ms Anita Ramasastry, Special Representative of the Chairperson of the OSCE Council of Ministers for Combating Corruption, Ms Hanne Juncher, Executive Secretary of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), as well as the Vice-Chairperson of the CoC. The second session of the conference is entitled "Best practices for preventing corruption and enhancing transparency and accountability". Keynote speakers will be Mr. Roby Senderowitsch, Director of Governance Practice for Europe and Central Africa at the World Bank, Mr. Jon Vrushi, Research Analyst at Transparency International, and Mr. Konstantine Vardzelashvili.
The theme of the third and final session of the conference is "The contribution of independent institutions and the media in preventing and fighting corruption". The main speakers in this session will be the former Attorney General of the Republic of Cyprus Mr. Costas Clerides, the investigative journalists Mr. Drew Sullivan, co-founder of the "Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting" Project and Mr. Franz Wild, editor of the "Bureau of Investigative Journalism Enablers" Project and the Auditor General of the Republic of Cyprus Mr. Odysseas Michaelides.
(Text as sent by the House of Representatives)
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