One of the most important global anti-corruption forums will be held in Lithuania

In 2024, the International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) will be held in Vilnius, Lithuania. IACC is perhaps the largest and the most important global anti-corruption forum that brings together state leaders, civil society and private sector. At the conference, which is held every two years, representatives from more than 140 countries of the world are working together to solve the increasingly complex challenges posed by corruption. This year the 20th anniversary conference was held in Washington D.C., USA, during which it was announced that Lithuania will be the host of the 2024 conference.

"Hosting next International Anti-corruption Conference in Lithuania is an indicator of our state progress in the areas of democracy and transparency. This is also a great opportunity for Lithuania to actively participate shaping the global anti-corruption agenda and ensuring support for democracy and the rule of law," inviting world anti-corruption leaders to Lithuania during the event said Audra Plepytė, Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania to the USA.

IACC discusses anti-corruption policy, promotes networking, coordination of interests and positions, exchange of best practices that are necessary to take action at global and national levels. The conference promotes international cooperation by providing an opportunity to build a dialogue between the representatives of various institutions and organizations.

The beginnings of many famous global anti-corruption initiatives, such as the United Nations Convention against Corruption or the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, were born precisely in the discussions of previous IACC conferences.

"It is a great honor for Lithuania to take over the baton of the host of the International Anti-corruption Conference from the USA. We understand that the opportunity to organize such a high-level forum in Lithuania is not only a great appreciation, but also great responsibility. A lot of preparatory work awaits, but we believe that he Special Investigations Service and Lithuania are ready for this challenge," said Žydrūnas Bartkus, Director of the Special Investigation Service of Republic of Lithuania (STT).

U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, President of Moldova Maia Sandu, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Chair of Transparency International Delia Ferreira Rubio, President of the World Bank Group David Malpass, Ukrainian journalist Anastasiia Lapatina and other distinguished speakers spoke at the Conference held in Washington D.C. on December 6-10, 2022. The event included 6 plenary sessions, more than 70 workshops, including discussion "Rethinking the Global Law Enforcement Response to Corruption" that was organized by the STT, Fair-play music and film festivals, awards for young journalists and many other events. The IACC conference in Washington D.C. gathered more than 2,000 onsite participants, as well as several thousands of virtual viewers.

The preparatory work for the 2024 IACC conference will commence already in January 2023.

When selecting the future host country, the IACC Secretariat conducted consultations and collected applications from various candidate countries. Lithuania submitted an application after active consultations within the country and won the selection.

Previously IACC was held in 2020 – in South Korea, 2018 – in Denmark, 2016 – in Panama, 2015 – in Malaysia, 2012 – in Brazil.

IACC is the major global forum that brings together heads of state and leaders of civil society and the private sector in order to fight the biggest threats of corruption in the modern world and since 1983 it has been successfully influencing the global political and economic agenda. Leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Hillary Clinton, Kofi Annan, Al Gore, George Soros, Angel Gurria and others have spoken at the conferences.

Read more about the conference at www.iaccseries.org.