February 11, 2003

Dr. Ognian Shentov, Chairman, Center for the Study of Democracy:

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen! Let me declare open the Fifth Policy Forum of Coalition 2000. This is the fifth time we find ourselves together in this room within the same framework, which by the standards of a country in transition is in itself an impressive and praiseworthy fact. Of course, I hardly need repeat the usual explanations about the nature of Coalition 2000 as an initiative of a group of Bulgarian non-governmental organizations committed to the fight against corruption, but I would just like to note two technical aspects of our work henceforth: first, regarding the format of the meeting, and secondly, about the nature of the document.

Our meeting today is not conceived as a working one. It is a brief representative conference. Today's forum is but a small element of the myriad other activities carried out by the Coalition 2000 experts and which largely take place off-screen - numerous working meetings, discussions, pilot projects, initiatives, including on a local level.

The goal and purpose of today's forum is to enlist support and demonstrate commitment on the part of the representatives of state institutions and senior government officials to the joint anti-corruption efforts.

And secondly, concerning the document that you have been provided with and that we are to discuss - this is the fourth consecutive annual corruption assessment report. It is an integrated product of public-private partnership as represented by Coalition 2000 and has been created with input from a number of representatives of state institutions and leading figures in the business community and civil society.