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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 2, 2003

Text of a Letter from the President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

April 1, 2003

Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. Chairman:)

Pursuant to the resolution of advice and consent to ratification of the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption adopted by the Senate on July 27, 2000, I submit the enclosed report, prepared by my Administration, on implementation of the Convention.

This third report to the Congress indicates that 28 of the 34 members of the Organization of American States have formally ratified the Convention (Brazil and Suriname ratified the Convention in 2002) and that 27 have adopted the evaluation mechanism established by the Organization of American States to oversee implementation.

The United States Government continues to reinforce the implementation and enforcement of the Convention in the hemisphere through numerous initiatives and programs that are described in the report. Moreover, since the last report, my Administration has moved forward with our proposed Millennium Challenge Account, which is intended to link U.S. foreign development assistance to, among other factors, the recipient's commitments to good governance and anticorruption efforts. The Convention recognizes that the problem of corruption is a major obstacle to development in the Americas. As such, it has energized the work of the United States and its hemispheric partners to find common solutions to common anticorruption challenges.

I look forward to working with you to ensure that we continue to combat corruption in our hemisphere and across the globe.

Sincerely,

GEORGE W. BUSH

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