Organization of American States
www.oas.org

GA32E-07--02

June 4, 2002
SURINAME RATIFIES ANTI-CORRUPTION TREATY AT GENERAL ASSEMBLY 

Suriname’s Foreign Affairs Minister Maria E. Levens today deposited the documents ratifying the convention for hemispheric cooperation to fight corruption, an Organization of American States treaty.    

The Surinamese Minister presented the ratification instruments relating to the Inter-American Convention against Corruption to OAS Secretary General César Gaviria, as the heads of delegation from the 34 member states gather in Barbados for the annual General Assembly.  The Assembly ends this evening with a press conference by the Secretary General.  

Minister Levens then joined Grenada’s Ambassador to the OAS Denis Antoine; Guyana’s Foreign Minister Rudi Insanally and St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ State Minister for Foreign Affairs Conrad Sayers in signing the Declaration of States Parties to the anti-corruption convention, reaffirming their countries’ commitment to the follow-up mechanisms for the treaty’s implementation. 

Adopted in Caracas, Venezuela, in March 1996, the Inter-American Convention against Corruption entered into force in March 1997 and, to become effective, required two ratifying states.   Twenty-six member states have so far ratified. 

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