TUNISIA.  Siemens and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have teamed up to promote integrity and openness throughout the Arab countries of the Middle East and North Africa.

Under a 3-year agreement focusing on clean business practices and compliance measures, Siemens will link with UNDP which works on these areas in more than 100 countries as part of its broader efforts to reduce poverty and promote development.

“Siemens stands for top performance with the highest ethical standards, worldwide and in the Middle East region,” said Erich Kaeser, CEO Siemens Middle East. “With the Siemens Integrity Initiative we are promoting integrity and fair competition.”

Based on a settlement between the World Bank and Siemens AG agreed on July 2nd, 2009, the Siemens Integrity Initiative provides support and funding for 30 projects around the world. Siemens will provide US$1.8 million in funding over the three years to UNDP which will scale up existing anti-corruption efforts and enable non-governmental organizations to become active in developing, implementing and monitoring anti-corruption strategies in the region.

UNDP will provide partners with knowledge, skills and resources to encourage compliance with standards and reduce corruption risks between the public and the private sectors.

The joint initiative will place an emphasis on the role of local actors in confronting corruption which negatively affects those living in poverty around the world and can undermine business transactions and relationships in countries attempting to attract investment.

Ultimately, this cooperation will contribute to improve the ability of stakeholders to generate data on corruption in the Arab region and support them in implementing the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which is ratified by 15 Arab countries, and reduce corruption risks in key sector including health, water, and education.

“The achievement of the Millennium Development Goals requires the intensification of anti-corruption efforts in the public and private sectors”, said Adel Abdellatif, Chief of the UNDP Regional Programme in Arab States, “our partnership with Siemens is an important step in making these efforts more impactful in the Arab region”.

For more information on the UNDP Anti-Corruption and Integrity in the Arab Countries, please log-on to www.pogar.org/anticorruption

UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground in 177 countries and territories, we offer global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations.
Further information is available on the Internet at: www.undp.org.

For more information on the Siemens Integrity Initiative, please log-on to www.siemens.com/integrity-initiative.

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global powerhouse in electronics and electrical engineering, operating in the industry, energy and healthcare sectors. For over 160 years, Siemens has stood for technological excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality.

The company is the world’s largest provider of environmental technologies. More than one-third of its total revenue stems from green products and solutions. In fiscal 2010, which ended on September 30, 2010, revenue from continuing operations (excluding Osram and Siemens IT Solutions and Services) totaled €69 billion and net income from continuing operations €4.3 billion. At the end of September 2010, Siemens had around 336,000 employees worldwide on the basis of continuing operations.

Further information is available at www.siemens.com.

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