Financial Transparency Coalition

A side event at the World Bank/IMF Meetings in Istanbul

The final communiqué from the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh.

The private sector plays a pivotal role in fighting corruption worldwide. Transparency International’s Global Corruption Report 2009 documents in unique detail the many corruption risks for businesses, ranging from small entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa to multinationals from Europe and North America. More than 75 experts examine the scale, scope and devastating consequences of a wide range of corruption issues, including bribery and policy capture, corporate fraud, cartels, corruption in supply chains and transnational transactions, emerging challenges for carbon trading markets, sovereign wealth funds and, growing economic centres, such as Brazil, China and India.

The Energy Security Through Transparency (ESTT) Act takes important steps towards reversing the resource curse by revealing payments made here and abroad to governments for oil, gas and minerals. The resource curse describes a phenomenon in which countries with rich natural resource endowments often end up with high rates of poverty, corruption, conflict, and poor governance rather than prosperity. Good governance in extractive industries contribute to a better domestic investment climate for U.S. businesses, increase the reliability of commodity supplies, promote greater U.S. energy security and thereby strengthen our national security.