Full text: Beijing Initiative for the Clean Silk Road

In the fall of 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the important Belt and Road Initiative. Over the past six years, the Belt and Road Initiative has transformed from a concept into action, providing a new path for optimizing global development model and improving global governance. It has become an important platform for building a community of shared future for mankind.

Spanning thousands of miles and years, the ancient Silk Road embraced the Egyptian, Babylonian, Indian and Chinese civilizations. Advocating honesty and integrity and despising corruption and bribery was the common pursuit of these ancient civilizations. In today's world, corruption undermines social fairness and justice, impedes economic cooperation and development, and affects government creditability and rule of law. Organized and transnational corruption has become increasingly prominent. In this context, strengthening international cooperation on promoting integrity and combating corruption is not only important for enhancing global governance against corruption, but also an important guarantee for the intensive, pragmatic, stable and forward-looking development of the Belt and Road Initiative.

We, the delegates of the Thematic Forum on Clean Silk Road of the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, solemnly call for:

· Working together for a clean Silk Road through consultation, contribution and shared benefits, and safeguarding the development of the Belt and Road Initiative in the spirit of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, in accordance with the existing international rules and legal frameworks, on the basis of respecting state sovereignty, cultural differences and national actualities, and in the light of the Silk Road's spirits of "peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit".

· Urging all parties to enhance openness and transparency of government information, actively prevent and properly resolve disputes in trade and investment, and promote cooperation on finance, taxation, intellectual property and environmental protection, so as to develop a stable, fair and transparent framework of rules and governance for the Belt and Road Initiative.

· Calling on all parties to strengthen supervision and administration of the Belt and Road cooperation projects, regulate transactions of public resources, strictly abide by relevant laws and regulations in project bidding, construction, operation and management, and reduce the possibility of rent-seeking, so as to create a regulated and law-based business environment.

· Calling on enterprises to enhance self-discipline, legal awareness and sense of responsibility, establish corporate compliance management system, prevent and control corruption risks, develop codes of conduct, and resolutely resist business bribery, so as to actively create and jointly maintain a sound government-business relationship.

· Advocating all parties to sign bilateral extradition treaties and mutual legal assistance treaties based on relevant international conventions and bilateral treaties, and create closer and more convenient judicial and law-enforcement cooperation networks, so as to provide a solid legal and institutional basis for the cooperation among countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

· Encouraging all parties to strengthen the exchange of personnel, information, and experience among relevant anti-corruption agencies, promote capacity building and human resource development, launch all-climate, multi-level and high-efficiency anti-corruption cooperation on pursuing fugitives, asset recovery and combating bribery, so as to deny safe havens to corrupt officials and their illicit assets.

· Supporting all parties to strengthen academic exchange and research on the Belt and Road Initiative, facilitate cooperation and research on governance, business management and legal systems, share helpful experiences and successful practices on the development of integrity and rule of law, and establish effective communication and exchange mechanisms, so as to jointly promote the development of the clean Silk Road.

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