The Prime Minister 10 Downing Street London SW1A 2AA 18 January 2016
Dear Prime Minister Anti-Corruption Summit We welcome your hosting of a global Anti-Corruption Summit in London this coming May. It is a critical opportunity to make progress in the fight against corruption – not just of itself, but because of its corrosive impacts on prosperity, growth, security and the fight against extreme poverty. We recognise that you have put transparency centre-stage over the past few years, including at Lough Erne in 2013 and by hosting the Open Government Partnership Summit later that year. We hope that the upcoming Anti-Corruption Summit will build on this legacy by establishing new global norms and securing concrete policy commitments from a wide range of governments and other actors. We also hope that other countries will be encouraged to follow the UK’s leadership in areas critical to the ‘Golden Thread’ of development. To fight the cancer of corruption, we need high ambition. As civil society representatives, we are committed to helping ensure that this event is a success and would like to see this as the start of a global longer-term commitment on corruption. We therefore encourage you to involve a wide range of countries (donors, transition economies and developing countries alike), businesses and civil society to ensure that the Summit truly changes the rules of the game including by establishing new international norms to which Summit participants will commit. Only by governments, civil society and business working together can we change behaviour in a way that will make a difference to the world's poorest people. We would welcome an opportunity to discuss the Summit with you or your officials at the earliest opportunity. We stand ready to play an active and constructive role as you plan this global event. We are copying this letter to the Chancellor, the Secretary of State for International Development and Sir Eric Pickles in his role as UK Anti-Corruption Champion. Yours sincerely Adrian Lovett, Europe Executive Director, The ONE Campaign Alan Hudson, Executive Director, Global Integrity Alexandra Gillies, Director of Governance Programs, Natural Resource Governance Institute
Chris Taggart, Founder, OpenCorporates Gillian Caldwell, Executive Director, Global Witness John Christensen, Director, Tax Justice Network Manzoor Hasan, Chair, UNCAC Coalition Marinke van Riet, International Director, Publish What You Pay Neil Thorns, Director of Advocacy and Education, CAFOD Penny Lawrence, Deputy Chief Executive, Oxfam GB Robert Barrington, Executive Director, Transparency International UK Susan Hawley, Policy Director, Corruption Watch