The United States is a strong leader in the international campaign to reduce corruption by promoting transparency and strengthening judicial systems and rule of law. For that reason, the U.S. led efforts to launch the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Transactions ("The Anti-Bribery Convention").

The Convention was signed in December 1997 after more than a decade of U.S.-led efforts to create a new multilateral agreement to criminalize the bribery of foreign public officials.

Today, the Convention is one of many initiatives and instruments in regional and international fora aimed at fighting corruption. It is considered one of the most rigorous anti-corruption conventions, and continues to serve as a model for new initiatives.

Reducing corruption and enhancing transparency are top United States Government priorities because they are central to advancing our national security interests, supporting sustainable development and developing stable democracies.

Transparency is a key component of domestic good governance. Transparent systems are essential to build the trust of citizens, to create a welcoming climate for private enterprise, to stem corruption and to ensure that government revenues are used for their intended purpose.

The United States can be proud of the progress achieved since the Convention entered into force on February 15, 1999. Members of the OECD and five non-member countries put "peer pressure" into action by reviewing each signatory's laws to implement the convention.

Peer review proved to be a successful method to identify shortcomings in Members' implementing laws, and to propose corrective measures. Because of persistent U.S. presssure, the Working Group on Bribery adopted an accelerated peer review calendar in 2004, as well as new internal guidelines to ensure that country examinations are consistent over time.

U.S. agencies continue to provide strong oversight and consistent participation by our federal prosecuters to raise the quality of peer monitoring and promote enhanced professional contacts between convention country prosecuters and law enforcement experts. The U.S. is encouraging other convention parties to send their prosecutors and law enforcement experts to participate in all peer review examinations.

The U.S. believes convention countries will help to improve each other's capacity to implement anti-bribery laws through strong cross-border law enforcement ties. The U.S. is encouraged by signs of greater support among convention parties for the peer review mechanism.

To address the serious challenge of achieving more robust enforcement, the U.S. Government is working with other convention countries at the OECD and bilaterally to encourage discussion of the mechanics of investigating and prosecuting transnational bribery cases.

To this end, we are exploring ways to engage them on a practical level, including technical assistance (capacity building) exchanges to reach out to those countries whose prosecutors have not yet had much experience in developing bribery cases and taking them to court.

Some governments have approached the U.S. bilaterally for information and assistance. Our outreach efforts are also aimed at encouraging prosecutors to participate in OECD peer review meetings and other Convention-related work.