Mr. François Valerian, Chair of the Board of Directors of Transparency International opened the second day of the 5th International conference on collective action in Basel, Switzerland, emphasizing the importance of cooperation between all stakeholders and the crucial role of civil society. To have workable solutions and to promote intolerant corruption environment, we must become good at reaching out to all companies and organizations from the public and private sectors, including key representatives from the financial sector.
An understanding of collective action must be shared by all levels of a company from top management and decision makers, through compliance and risk management officers, to all employees of the company.
Business integrity means turning your intentions into real actions in a company, ensuring that interactions with customers, suppliers, investors and regulators are in line with stated goals and achieving ethical transformation in companies. The fight against corruption is a long-term process requiring deep structural changes in institutions, public and private sector organizations, their legal framework and culture.
Civil society organizations and journalists are informed by the public, by whistleblowers and share this information with those in the best position to fight and to prevent their further re occurrence. They give rise and complement the work of institutions for more transparency, integrity and accountability at national and local level in supporting the fight against corruption and collective action. The role of civil society and journalists is widely recognized and included in many international conventions and documents in the fight against corruption.
Collective actions must be actions in every institution, in every company, by everyone and everybody, in order to have an effective environment to fight against corruption.