Kiribati will host the Pacific Regional Leaders’ Conference on anti-corruption from the 3-6 of February 2020.

The theme for the conference is: “Pacific Unity Against Corruption.”

Its overall objective is to integrate and align anti-corruption work performed in the region with the sustainable development agenda and to enhance resilience of Pacific Island Countries.

The conference aims to give Ministers and leaders the opportunity to: strengthen anti-corruption networks across the Pacific; and share knowledge and experience.

During the 49th Pacific Islands Forum in Nauru in September 2018, Kiribati was put forth to host a regional meeting on anti-corruption.

At the 50th Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu in August 2019, leaders welcomed an update from Kiribati on preparations for the meeting.

The President of Kiribati, Taneti Maamau, told the December 2019 United Nations Conference of States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption that he convened this Leaders’ Conference as a way to galvanise regional political will for action.

Pacific states have made a variety of long-standing commitments to good governance and combating corruption. These include undertakings at the Forum Eight Principles of Accountability, the Biketawa Declaration and the 2014 Framework for Pacific Regionalism. 

The Sustainable Development Goals (S.D.G.s) recognise combatting of corruption as an essential precondition to sustainable development.

At the 2017 Conference of States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, Kiribati referenced the need for small island states, with development partner assistance, to address corruption. 

At the 2019 Conference, Kiribati co-sponsored with the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Australia and New Zealand, a resolution which was adopted unanimously: urging small island developing states to promote the implementation of the Convention at the regional level.

The resolution pledged greater collaboration with regional mechanisms, such as the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and the United Nations Pacific Regional Anti-Corruption Project for Pacific island countries, to develop a Pacific anti-corruption vision.

 All Pacific Island Countries (P.I.C.s), except for Tonga which has signaled its intent to sign, have signed on to United Nations Convention against Corruption (U.N.C.A.C.), which provides a framework to combat corruption.