CAIRO: Experts and officials from all over the Middle East, North Africa and Europe met in Cairo Tuesday to discuss the protection and optimization of public funds and ways to combat corruption and fraud. "The fight against fraud affecting EU external aid funds is one of our operational priorities, said Franz-Hermann Bruner, director general of OLAF, the European anti-fraud office. "In order to be as effective as possible in the prevention and detection of such irregularities, our investigators need to build and maintain close contacts with the operational services of the countries where the money is spent, he explained. The conference, titled "Protection and Optimization of Public Funds: Co-operation between National and International Authorities, was organized by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and Europe Aid in cooperation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Ashraf Abdel Wahab, deputy minister at the Ministry of State for Administrative Development, explained ways by which Egypt protects its public funds. He explained that Egypt has laws, regulations and organizations to combat fraud and promote transparency; however the important thing is for them to coordinate in order to meet the objectives. "A big part of corruption is introduced by the culture and this needs to change, people have to know that they don't have to give bribes to get things done and employees have to perform their duty objectively, said Abdel Wahab. Regarding Egypt in light of the current global financial crisis, Ambassador Gamal Bayoumi said that due to the scarcity of resources, we are in need of a sound monitoring system which ensures an efficient utilization of these resources, adding that Egypt in particular has to do that as it is one of the highest recipients of aid. "There have been a lot of regulatory reforms, including a range of fiscal reforms since 2005, which have improved fiscal transparency [in Egypt]. And there are several organizations monitoring malpractices by civil servants and that combat corruption, said Bayoumi, who was present on behalf of Minister of International Cooperation Fayza Aboul Naga. Richard Weber, deputy director of the DG Europe Aid, spoke of the activities of the European Commission in the Southern neighborhood countries. The European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) is the largest donor in the world, giving over ?10 billion in aid every year, accounting for more than 60 percent of aid given around the world, he said. ENPI's commitment to Egypt alone since 2007 to 2010 totals ?568 million. In 2007, Egypt received ?137 million that were allocated to education policy support and administrative measures. In 2008, Egypt received ?145 million in a variety of areas which include transport, education, waste water management, good governance, human rights, particularly regarding women and children, and civil society. In 2009, Egypt will be receiving ?140 million which will go into health, rural development and administrative measures. The conference aims at bringing together the operational expertise of anti-fraud investigators and the administrative practices of services managing and supervising aid funds in the Middle East and North Africa. It also aims at improving cooperation between national and international services responsible for management and control of public funds in order to optimize the effectiveness of external aid. This is the fourth regional conference in Africa. It previously took place in Rabat, Morocco, Cape Town, South Africa and Kampala, Uganda.
