On the margins of the Meeting, in the afternoon of 22 September 2021, GIV, in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), hosted the virtual ASEAN-PAC Training Workshop on Asset and Income Control of Public Officials in South East Asia.  The workshop was co-chaired by Vietnam Deputy Government Inspector General Tran Ngoc Liem and UNODC Regional Anti-corruption Advisor Francesco Checchi. About 130 participants attended the workshop representing ten member agencies of ASEAN-PAC, UNODC and relevant ministries, agencies and some localities of Vietnam.

Speaking at the opening session of the workshop, Deputy Government Inspector General Tran Ngoc Liem said that in practice, there are many factors that affect, influence and determine the effectiveness of asset and income control. Besides, factors of perception, psychology, culture, customs and practices in many cases also become barriers. In addition, the socio-economic context, especially in transitional or non-transitional economies, also creates many obstacles to the effective implementation of measures on controlling asset and income of public officials. Stemming from the importance of the issue, GIV and UNODC decided to choose "Asset and Income Control of Public Officials in South East Asia: Concepts and Practical Applications” as the theme of the ASEAN-PAC training workshop.

Deputy Government Inspector General Tran Ngoc Liem expressed his hope that with the knowledge, experience and good international practices shared at the workshop, participants would receive valuable information for reference and practical contribution to the development, improvement and enforcement of the law on control of assets and income in their respective countries.

In-depth discussions at the workshop revolved around the following issues: Legal framework and international standards on wealth and income control; Comparative analysis of income and wealth control systems around the world; Good practices on specific issues of wealth and income control; and Handling assets and income with no legal origin. Speakers were the experts from UNODC and four anti-corruption agencies in the region: the Corruption Eradication Commission of the Republic of Indonesia (KPK), the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the National Anti-Corruption Commission of Thailand (NACC) and the Office of the Ombudsman of the Philippines.

At the closing session of the workshop, Mr. Francesco Checchi gave a summary of the contents of the discussion sessions. He affirmed that with the rich content and insightful and open sharing of seminar speakers, as well as the active interaction among participants, the workshop was a great success.

Speaking at the closing session, Deputy Government Inspector General Tran Ngoc Liem acknowledged and highly appreciated the quality of the presentations of all the speakers and said that, with the reasonable time allocation for the theoretical issues, as the basis and foundation for practical issues in asset and income control, and with the active participation and discussion of all participants, each participant drew certain important policy implications with practical reference value, in line with economic, political and cultural context of their individual country.

Deputy Government Inspector General Tran Ngoc Liem expressed GIV’s special thanks to UNODC - workshop co-hosting partner - for actively supporting GIV during the process of developing the workshop agenda; great thanks to experts from UNODC and KPK Indonesia, MACC Malaysia, NACC Thailand and the Office of the Ombudsman of the Philippines for presenting at the workshop; and deep thanks to all participants of the member agencies of ASEAN-PAC as well as of relevant Vietnamese ministries, agencies and localities for their active participation and contribution at the workshop.