By Nour Abuzant
Staff Reporter

HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani handing over a sword to US Secretary of Justice and Attorney General Eric H Holder at the opening session of the sixth Global Forum for Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity at Sheraton Doha yesterday. Qatar’s Attorney General Ali bin Fetais al-Marri is in the middle.  The sword symbolises the global campaign against corruption and is the dominating theme of  the logo of the conference

 Qatar has taken a series of steps to respond to international efforts to fight corruption, a global phenomenon that hinders development, HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani said yesterday.
Addressing the inaugural session of the sixth Global Forum for Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity, the Emir counted Qatar’s ratification of the UN Covenant for Combating Corruption and the establishment of the “national committee for integrity and transparency with all the tools it needs to function with full independence and objectivity” as two of the major steps in this regard. 
The Emir reminded the gathering that Qatar was ranked first in fighting corruption among the Arab nations according to Transparency International’s reports for 2007 and 2008.
He said that one of the most important factors for such an achievement was the nature of the Qatari society and “adhering to the moral values and the principles of Islam, the religion which encourages individual reputation and staying away from suspicions and calls for not using public position for personal benefits”.
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa said that corruption hindered development because “it confuses correct standards, replacing the talented with unqualified ones due to nepotism”.
He said that platforms like the Global Forum for Fighting Corruption embodied the concern of the international community to fight the dangerous phenomenon of graft, “which is present worldwide, in both poor and rich, developed and undeveloped nations alike”.
He said the current session would take up important subjects related to fighting corruption such as separation of institutions and independence of the judiciary and the partnership between the private and public sectors in setting up anti-corruption departments.
The Emir said that corruption had social, economic, ethical, educational, cultural and religious dimensions and therefore “finding solutions for this phenomenon should be comprehensive. Otherwise, our efforts in this regard would fall short of being effective solutions”.
He said: “When the political, social and economic regimes fail to provide minimum political rights and welfare for their citizens, talking about fighting corruption becomes a luxury that falls on deaf ears.”
The Emir hoped the recommendations of the forum would contribute to finding ways to uproot corruption globally.
Some 1,500 delegates from around the world are attending the UN-sponsored conference.