INVITATION TO ATTEND APRIL ANTI-CORRUPTION WORKSHOP IN

UNCLAS AMMAN 000414 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA AND EEB STATE PLEASE PASS TO USAID CAIRO FOR USAID Jim Wright E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EFIN ETRD KTFN PGOV SNAR XF SUBJECT: INVITATION TO ATTEND APRIL ANTI-CORRUPTION WORKSHOP IN AMMAN, JORDAN ¶1. This message contains action requests. Please see paragraphs 4-8. ¶2. The U.S. Treasury Office of Technical Assistance (OTA),the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of International Assistance (OIA),and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will jointly deliver the workshop "Addressing the Challenges of Corruption" April 20 - 22, 2009, in Amman, Jordan to explore and discuss methods to combat corruption in the region. This event is being offered to Morocco, Jordan, Yemen and Bahrain for senior level government officials involved with championing and drafting legislation and implementing anti-corruption policies and programs, and for senior members of institutions involved with prosecuting economic crimes such as corruption, procurement fraud, money laundering and other similar offenses. ¶3. Treasury/OTA, Department of Justice /OIA, with funding assistance from USAID, invite action addressees to identify host country officials to participate in the workshop and will pay for the travel, lodging, per diem, and visa application fees (if necessary) for up to five officials from each identified country as excepted in paragraph 5 below from specified countries. Participants should hold positions indicated in paragraph 2. ¶4. Action request for embassies Rabat, Sanaa, and Manama. Please notify host governments of this event and assist in identifying appropriate participants from among officials in the appropriate ministries including anti-corruption bodies, public prosecution, and financial intelligence units of the host governments. ¶5. Action Request for Embassy Manama. Due to USAID funding restrictions on paying for travel and per diem of participants from certain Gulf States, Embassy Manama is requested to identify candidates and encourage the host government to fund their attendance. In the event that external funding becomes available for participants from Bahrain, post will be informed by septel. ¶6. Action Request for Embassy Manama: Post is also requested to extend an invitation to the MENAFATF Secretariat to send a representative. The MENAFATF participant will need to be funded by the organization. ¶7. Ideal participants should have a direct connection to the governments' anti-corruption efforts. Prosecutors and senior 
officials who are in a position of anti-corruption policy development and implementation are strongly preferred. Note: Posts are individually responsible for the vetting of host nation nominees from their country in accordance with post and Department policies. If a nominee's position meets the definition of a member of the security forces of the host nation, post should vet that nominee prior to submission. Current guidelines require a minimum of 10 working days turnaround time to process vetting requests. ¶8. The deadline for submission of names of participants is March 19, 2009. Identifying data should include: Full name, DOB, position title, complete agency name and business address, national ID number, contact telephone numbers, and email address. After names are submitted to the Embassy Amman point of contact (below), fund cite information will be relayed to the submitting post for acquisition of airline tickets and or issuance of the travel advance if required. Efforts will be made to use e-tickets to facilitate transportation. Each post is responsible for coordinating the travel of its host nation nominee and informing the participant of the need to acquire an entry visa to Jordan, if necessary. Deadline for submission of travel information is March 29, 2009. ¶9. Official travel days will be April 19 and April 23. Lodging will be paid in advance by U.S. Treasury for the nights of April 19 - April 22. Participants will be responsible for ground transportation to/from Queen Alia International Airport and the hotel. The seminar will end on April 22 at approximately 3:00 PM (GMT+2). If participants wish to begin their return travel on April 22, flight departure should be planned to occur after 6:00 PM to allow time for ground travel to the airport. ¶10. Presentations at the seminar will be in English. English-Arabic and Arabic-English interpretation will be provided. ¶11. The seminar agenda will address the following topics: - United Nations Development Program - Program on Governance in Arab States - Arab Anti-corruption & Integrity Network Initiative - The Corruption Dilemma - International Instruments to Fight Corruption - A Discussion of Current Initiatives in the Region - Codes of Ethics and Standards of Conduct for Public Officials - Integrity Training, Financial Disclosure, and Conflicts of Interest - Legal Frameworks - Enforcement Measures and Techniques - Sources of Information - International Cooperation ¶12. A bilingual brochure concerning this event and an invitation letter template will be available on the Embassy Amman intranet site at amman.state.gov by February 19. Posts may download these documents for use in recruiting participants. ¶13. The Embassy Amman point of contact for the event is Joe Parker, Resident Enforcement Advisor, U.S. Treasury. He can be reached by e-mail at parkerje@state.gov, or by telephone at 962-6-590-6544 (embassy) or 962-79-582-3305 (mobile). Visit Amman's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman BEECROFT