UN official praises Iran for cooperating with UNODC

TEHRAN,Dec.11(MNA) – The representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Iran has thanked the Iranian government for cooperating with the UNODC. Antonio De Leo made the remarks in a speech during a conference on the campaign against corruption held in Tehran on Monday to mark the International Anti-Corruption Day, which has been observed annually on December 9 since the passage of the United Nations Convention against Corruption on October 31, 2003. According to a translation of his remarks, the UN official said that corruption is a complex social, political, and economic phenomenon that affects all countries, adding that corruption undermines democratic institutions, slows economic development, and contributes to the instability of governments. He also said that the cost of corruption is measured not just in the billions of dollars of wasted or stolen government resources, but most poignantly in the absence of hospitals, schools, clean water, roads, and bridges that might have been built with that money and would have certainly changed the fortunes of families and communities. Elsewhere in his remarks, he thanked Iran’s State Inspectorate Organization for hosting the conference and expressed hope that the meeting would help generate creative ideas and pave the way for increased cooperation.