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.
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