Ukraine must fight corruption too, says UN chief
- Meeting laid out key principles for how to rebuild Ukraine from the ashes of war, included that recovery process must be twinned with far-reaching reforms
- Fighting corruption – endemic in Ukraine long before the Russian invasion – will ‘prevent theft from its own people’, UNDP administrator said
Besides fighting Russia, Ukraine must also actively combat corruption to unleash a massive influx of reconstruction money, the head of the UN development said.
Fighting corruption – endemic in Ukraine long before the Russian invasion – will “prevent theft from its own people”, United Nations Development Programme administrator Achim Steiner said.
Corruption is theft from development, from the public coffers and ultimately from citizens themselves, the UNDP chief said, on the sidelines of the Lugano reconstruction conference.
The two-day gathering in Switzerland saw participants agree on the Lugano Declaration, laying out key principles for how to rebuild Ukraine from the ashes of Russia’s war.
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They included that Ukraine itself must be in the driving seat on how to rebuild, and also that the recovery process must be twinned with far-reaching reforms.
UNDP has been present in Ukraine for decades but had to review its priorities following the February 24 invasion and the huge surge of refugees and internally displaced people.