E-067/01 March 22 , 2001 GOVERNMENT EXPERTS MEET TO ORGANIZE HEMISPHERIC CONFERENCE AGAINST CORRUPTION   The Inter-American Convention against Corruption, which the Organization of American States adopted in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1996, "remains the Hemisphere's most important collective tool for building good governance in the Americas," according to the Chairman of the OAS Working Group on Probity and Public Ethics. Argentina's Alternate Representative to the OAS, Mauricio Alice, argued at the start of a meeting of government experts preparing for a hemispheric summit that the increasing number of countries ratifying the treaty, coupled with its rapid entry into force, "speaks volumes about the treaty's usefulness and underscores the need for it to be used as a fundamental vehicle in a decisive and effective war on the scourge." The Inter-American Convention against Corruption "is the first legal instrument of its kind in the world," declared Alice, explaining that "hemispheric cooperation to combat the scourge of corruption will bolster member countries' response mechanisms against increasing threats to democracy, democratic institutions and leaders." Twenty-one OAS member states have so far ratified the hemispheric treaty: Argentina, Bahamas, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela. They will be represented at a Conference of States Parties, to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in May. OAS Permanent Council Chairman, Ambassador Esteban Tomic of Chile, addressed the government experts, underscoring the importance of their gathering. He identified four issues he believed should be taken into account to make the next century truly the century of the Americas: combating drug abuse and drug trafficking, defending human rights, strengthening democracy and combating corruption. He described these as "issues on which the OAS has blazed an international trail." The government experts conclude their Washington meeting on Friday, March 23.   **********