[Title] BRICS Anti-Corruption Ministerial Communique

1. We, the BRICS Ministers with responsibilities for preventing and combating　corruption, met on 13 July 2022 under the Chinese Presidency, to discuss our commitments to counter challenges of corruption individually and collectively with a view to contributing to the global fight against corruption.

2. We recognize that corruption poses detrimental effects on social fairness and justice and sustainable economic development. We are also aware that against the backdrop of economic globalization, corruption and illicit financial flows distort equitable allocation of public resources and damage the integrity of the global financial system. We believe that anti-corruption efforts positively impact economic growth. We reaffirm the importance of multilateralism and joint actions in effectively fighting against trans-border corruption.

3. We commend the fruitful cooperation among BRICS countries against corruption on the basis of equality, mutual benefit and learning guided by the spirit of consensus. We recognize that since our leaders agreed to establish the BRICS Anti-Corruption Working Group (ACWG) in 2015, the ACWG has played an important role in promoting exchanges and cooperation among member countries under the leadership of rotating presidencies.

4. We are committed to promoting integrity in the public sector and sharing best practices in developing and implementing national anti-corruption strategies. We will further explore ways to prevent and combat all forms of corruption and bribery, so as to create a regulated and law-based environment for economic and social development as well as to improve public well-being. We will strengthen information sharing and coordination among relevant domestic agencies specialised in combating corruption, and provide them with necessary resources and support. We welcome the BRICS workshop on anti-corruption and economic development held on 26 May 2022.

5. We attach equal importance to building integrity in the private sector and encourage our businesses to abide by anti-corruption laws and to establish compliance and internal control mechanisms. We will strive to enforce domestic

anti-corruption and bribery laws and, where necessary, strengthen relevant domestic legal frameworks, so as to ensure that companies engaged in corruption, including multinational companies operating in our respective jurisdictions, are held liable and subjected to effective criminal or non-criminal sanctions.

6. We will continue to strengthen efforts to implement our anti-corruption obligations and commitments under international anti-corruption architectures. We recognize the United Nations Convention against Corruption(UNCAC)as the universal framework and legal basis for international cooperation in combating corruption, recovering stolen assets and countering safe-havens. We welcome the BRICS Initiative on Denial of Safe Haven to Corruption.

7. We will actively pursue anti-corruption law enforcement cooperation, in accordance with relevant domestic laws, while upholding the fundamental principles of international law. We will address requests based on criminal, civil and administrative proceedings with a view to strengthening efforts to prevent and sanction corruption and recovering and returning proceeds of corruption-related offences, in accordance with our domestic legal frameworks.

8. We attach particular importance to asset recovery cooperation. We will endeavor to explore the developments in the international asset recovery framework including in the United Nations. We will strive to prevent the transfer of proceeds of corruption overseas, and effectively implement the FATFAML/CFT standards to combat proceeds-generating crimes, terrorist financing, and to fight against corruption. We will enhance international cooperation for returning stolen assets to their rightful owners and avoiding unreasonable administrative hurdles on such transfers. We also note that the management, administration, and disposal of returned stolen assets are the sole responsibility of the requesting states, from which the assets were stolen.

9. We recognise the importance of anti-corruption education and training for the effective prevention of and fight against corruption. We appreciate the BRICS anti-corruption education and training initiatives implemented so far, and welcome further cooperation in this area to develop the skills and expertise of anti-corruption practitioners and educators and raise public awareness about corruption in our respective countries.

10. We commit to strengthening cooperation including experience and information sharing on anti-corruption issues among the BRICS countries on the basis of full consultation and consensus. We will further explore areas of cooperation against corruption.