key both for the integrity of the project and of the ECA itself. Requiring companies to have an externally monitored anti-corruption compliance programme or ethical code, and that contracts to be backed are won through competitive tender or transparent procurement processes, would be major steps forward. • Transparency. Proper disclosure of both ECA policies and project information is essential for fostering accountability. Recent international developments with regard to ECA disclosure of details on high-risk projects prior to approval need to be extended to all projects. Most importantly, mechanisms to make communities aware of projects under consideration, and to allow for stakeholder consultation for such projects, need to be developed. The involvement of stakeholders and communities could be an important way of helping ECAs become aware of problems and risks posed by possible corruption at an early stage in the project cycle.
Conclusion Investment in good infrastructure projects in developing countries is fundamental to reducing poverty and meeting the international community’s Millennium Development Goals. By some estimates, developing countries need US $300 billion of annual investment in infrastructure.20 If future investment in infrastructure in developing countries is to be effective, making certain that infrastructure projects are free of corruption and built on the principles of accountability and transparency is fundamental. Those bodies responsible for providing public international finance for infrastructure need to play a lead role, not least by stepping up their anti-corruption reform efforts.
Notes 1. Susan Hawley is a researcher and policy adviser on corruption issues at the Corner House, a UK-based research and advocacy group focusing on human rights, the environment and development. 2. World Bank, Global Development Finance 2004 (Washington, DC). 3. Ibid. The World Bank group consists of its two lending arms (IBRD and IDA), its private sector development arm (IFC) and its political risk guarantees provider (MIGA). The regional banks are: the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The banks are involved in varying degrees; infrastructure accounts for 25 per cent of World Bank spending, while 42 per cent of the Asian Development Bank’s portfolio in 2003 was for roads and transport. 4. United Kingdom Department for International Development, ‘Making Connections: Infrastructure for Poverty Reduction’ (2002). 5. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, ‘Regulation and Liberalization in the Construction Services Sector and its Contribution to the Development of Developing Countries’, 12 September 2000, para. 27. 6. www.oecd.org/dataoecd/13/44/7084900.pdf 7. Ibid. 8. Senator Richard Lugar, ‘Opening Statement’, Combating Corruption in the Multilateral Development Banks, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, US Senate, 13 May 2004.
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