QNA
The National Day of Qatar is a precious occasion for everyone who lives in it; a day when the people express their feelings of love, pride and gratitude to their leader, the Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, said the President of the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority (ACTA) H E Hamad bin Nasser Al Misnad.
It is an opportunity to celebrate the country’s achievements in all political, economic, social, human and environmental fields to build a safe, prosperous and developed society; he added, noting that it is a day when all citizens renew their determination to actively contribute to achieving the aspirations of the Qatar National Vision 2030, and the commitment of the State of Qatar to the established principles and values is reiterated by linking the past and the present and evoking the achievements of the founder of the State.
The President of ACTA to Qatar News Agency that the National Day contributes to deepening the values of loyalty and solidarity with the wise leadership that took upon themselves the responsibility of advancing Qatar and walked with its people on the path of the founder towards pride, dignity, and sovereignty. On this day, the State of Qatar also celebrates its achievements and ability to overcome many challenges thanks to the values it pursues, most notably loyalty and the cohesion of the society components, he added. Qatar upholds the values and principles established by the founder, through various themes chosen for the ND celebrations over the previous years, he added, noting that these themes are the principles and values on which the people of Qatar are brought up, and which are passed down from one generation to another.
Al Misnad pointed out that the authority has put in place coherent work mechanisms to ensure the achievement of its objectives. He explained that ACTA worked on the charter for the Integrity of Public Officials, which was issued by Cabinet Decision No. (18) of 2020, adding that the authority has succeeded in raising awareness of this charter by organizing a number of training courses on introducing it, some of which were through personal attendance, taking into account all the precautionary requirements, and others were virtual, considering the current circumstances.
He stressed that the COVID-19 pandemic did not hinder the State of Qatar from completing the self-evaluation review of Qatar within the United Nations Convention against Corruption, nor from participating in the self-evaluation review of the Republic of Pakistan within the framework of the same agreement.
He added that ACTA is making great efforts to promote Qatar’s vision in supporting the pillars of transparency, integrity and combating corruption, through many legislative tools such as laws and regulations that work to reduce conflicts of government responsibility interests, and charters that support transparency in managing public affairs.
Furthermore, he stressed that the authority has strived to fulfill its international obligations under these exceptional circumstances by participating in international conferences and forums through the participation of experts and specialists in all discussions and sessions that take place remotely, the most important of which are the meetings of the bodies responsible for protecting integrity and combating corruption in the GCC States; the second conference of the State of Palestine, “Policies of integrity, transparency and accountability between theory and practice”; the International Conference on Combating Corruption in South Korea, and the meetings on drafting the political declaration of the United Nations General Assembly at its extraordinary session that will be held in 2021.
COVID-19 is an exceptional challenge for all countries of the world, he said pointing to the efforts made by the State of Qatar to counter this pandemic through H H the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani’s chairmanship of the meeting of the Supreme Committee for Crisis Management, in which His Highness emphasized the importance of the contribution of all parties to the efforts made by the State to address the pandemic. These efforts have won wide international praise from different countries, he said explaining that to contain virus and limit its spread, the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority has followed all the issued directives, circulated them and obligated its employees to them.
He emphasized that the pandemic was not an obstacle to the continuity of work, as the authority held all its local and international meetings virtually, adding that the pandemic had generated a new type of complaints associated with this challenge, namely, dealing with the consequences of the Corona pandemic, which did not exist before. Accordingly, the authority carefully followed up all the recommendations issued by international organizations on this matter and on strengthening integrity and transparency in times of crises and disasters such as the crisis generated by COVID-19.
