| As they implement ambitious anti-corruption programs, officials in Eastern Europe and Central Asia are using GDLN to learn from the experiences of other countries in the region and develop policy responses at the national and transnational levels. On September 9, 2005, in the second of a series of events, representatives from the public and private sector, non-governmental organizations, and donor organizations in Bulgaria, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Ukraine met through GDLN to discuss effective measures for combating corruption and the “hidden” economy in their countries.
Participants looked at the impact of different forms of corruption that occur in the “hidden” economy. They also reviewed successful policy responses to informal economic activities that have been recently implemented in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Serbia. These include simplifying rules and procedures governing registration and licensing; enforcing contracts through the judiciary; creating a unitary tax for small businesses; providing access to finance for small and medium enterprises; and increasing public awareness about the negative consequences of the informal economy. A good rule of thumb, concluded the participants, is increased involvement of the state in legal protection and less involvement in regulation and taxes.
This was the second GDLN videoconference held under a pilot program on Anti-corruption developed by the Center for the Study of Democracy and Coalition 2000. Other sessions in the program will cover Corruption Monitoring and Assessment Techniques; Civic Initiatives for Judicial Reform and Countering Corruption; Organized Crime and Corruption; and the Hidden Economy and Corruption. For more information, contact Dinka Dinkova at the GDLN Center in Sofia (dinka.dinkova@online.bg) or Svitlana Shytikova at the GDLN Center in Kyiv (shytikova@uapa-dlc.org.ua). See also here |
