OREANDA-NEWS. May 19, 2011. Petrozavodsk has become a venue for the international conference Anti-Corruption Analysis and Monitoring of the Legislation in Nordic Countries and in the Northwest of Russia. The conference is held by the Government of Murmansk Region in cooperation with the Government of Republic Karelia and Nordic Council of Ministers.

Its main purpose is to study opportunities of regular monitoring of measures for execution of the current anti-corruption legislation in regions of the Northwest of Russia and development of cooperation between the state, municipal and public sectors in the anti-corruption sphere. Representatives of the Nordic Council of Ministers, executive and legislative bodies of regions of the North-West Federal District, Office of Public Prosecutor, Russian and European public organizations, business, institutions of local government take part in the conference.

Mika Boedeker, Doctor of Laws, Director of the Nordic Council of Ministers' Information Office in St. Petersburg, and Alexey Bakhilin, Deputy Head of the Republic of Karelia and Chairman of the State Law Committee of the RK, opened the conference.

According to Mika Boedeker, Russia and Nordic countries today support close cooperation which is also applied to the legal field of activity. In further strengthening of economic, political and public cooperation between our countries, as well as cross-border cooperation, he has pointed out, significant part belongs to provision of stability in the legal space and legal protection of business in territory of each other. Therefore, both parties consider anti-corruption analysis and monitoring of the legislation, as wll as contacts of lawyers of our countries to be of a special value.

– Karelia has an extensive border with the European Union, and cross-border cooperation between the republic and Nordic countries is developing. During this cooperation we often discuss issues of anti-corruption work, – mentioned Alexey Bakhilin, Deputy Head of the Republic of Karelia and Chairman of the State Law Committee of the RK. - Much has been done in recent years in Russia to overcome information closeness of authorities, which in many respects promotes corruption. Analysis, legal examination and monitoring of the legislation are important components of the anti-corruption work. Today we intend to discuss joint approaches of authorities, business-community and civil society to anti-corruption examination of the legislation to remove the basis of corruption itself.

Within the day participants of the conference have got acquainted with experience of their colleagues in the sphere of fight against corruption, discussed specific practices of carrying out anti-corruption examination of projects of regional normative legal acts, normative legal regulation in the sphere of placement of government orders, use of electronic information resources, as well as also cooperation with the public in struggle against corruption. The teamwork will result if preparation of recommendations for bodies of the government of regions of the Northwest of Russia.