HE President of the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority (ACTA) Hamad bin Nasser al-Misnad has said that the National Day of Qatar is a precious occasion for everyone who lives in it; a day when the people express their feelings of love, pride and gratitude to their leader, His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, and is an opportunity to celebrate the country's achievements in all political, economic, social, human and environmental fields to build a safe, prosperous and developed society.

It is also a day when all citizens renew their determination to actively contribute to achieving the aspirations of the Qatar National Vision 2030, and the commitment of Qatar to the established principles and values reiterated by linking the past and the present and evoking the achievements of the founder of the State.

In a statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA), the ACTA president said that the National Day contributes to deepening the values of loyalty and solidarity with the wise leadership that took upon themselves the responsibility of advancing Qatar and walked with its people the path of the founder towards pride, dignity, and sovereignty. On this day, Qatar also celebrates its achievements and ability to overcome many challenges thanks to the values it pursues, most notably loyalty and the cohesion of the society components, he added.

He pointed out that Qatar upholds the values and principles established by the founder, through various themes chosen for the National Day celebrations over the previous years, noting that these themes are the principles and values on which the people of Qatar are brought up, and which are passed down from one generation to another.

The ACTA president said that the authority has put in place coherent work mechanisms to ensure the achievement of its objectives. He explained saying that ACTA worked on the charter for the Integrity of Public Officials, which was issued by Cabinet Decision No. (18) of 2020, adding that the authority has succeeded in raising awareness of this charter by organising a number of training courses on introducing it, some of which were through personal attendance, taking into account all the precautionary requirements, and others were virtual, considering the current circumstances.

He affirmed that the Covid-19 pandemic did not hinder Qatar from completing the self-evaluation review of Qatar within the United Nations Convention against Corruption, nor from participating in the self-evaluation review of Pakistan within the framework of the same agreement.

He added that ACTA is making great efforts to promote Qatar's vision in supporting the pillars of transparency, integrity and combating corruption, through many legislative tools such as laws and regulations that work to reduce conflicts of government responsibility interests, and charters that support transparency in managing public affairs.

He stressed that the authority has strived to fulfill its international obligations under these exceptional circumstances by participating in international conferences and forums through the participation of experts and specialists in all discussions and sessions that take place remotely, the most important of which are the meetings of the bodies responsible for protecting integrity and combating corruption in the GCC States; the second conference of Palestine, "Policies of integrity, transparency and accountability between theory and practice"; the International Conference on Combating Corruption in South Korea, and the meetings on drafting the political declaration of the United Nations General Assembly at its extraordinary session that will be held in 2021.

Covid-19 is an exceptional challenge for all countries of the world, he said pointing to the efforts made by Qatar to counter this pandemic through HH the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani's chairmanship of the meeting of the Supreme Committee for Crisis Management, in which His Highness emphasised the importance of the contribution of all parties to the efforts made by the State to address the pandemic. These efforts have won wide international praise from different countries, he said explaining that to contain virus and limit its spread, the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority has followed all the issued directives, circulated them and obligated its employees to them.

He emphasised that the pandemic was not an obstacle to the continuity of work, as the authority held all its local and international meetings virtually, adding that the pandemic had generated a new type of complaints associated with this challenge, namely, dealing with the consequences of the corona pandemic, which did not exist before. Accordingly, the authority carefully followed up all the recommendations issued by international organisations on this matter and on strengthening integrity and transparency in times of crises and disasters such as the crisis generated by Covid-19.

The president of the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority indicated that the vision of the wise leadership and its sound directives have contributed to transforming the challenges, the most prominent of which is the unjust blockade crisis that has been going for over three years, into development opportunities, noting that Qatar, under the leadership of HH the Amir is seeing a comprehensive advancement that keeps pace with the rhythm of the era, anticipates a promising future, and achieves rates of development and growth that has dazzled the world.


Related Story