Hispanic Firm Casals & Associates to Co-Sponsor International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Athens

Casals & Associates, Inc. (C&A), a Hispanic-founded, Hispanic-owned and Hispanic-run international consulting firm, today announced it will co-sponsor the upcoming 13th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) taking place in Athens, Greece, from Oct. 30 to Nov. 2, 2008.

In conjunction with Transparency International, the conference’s founder and leading promoter, C&A is one of five sponsors of this biennial event, which attracts up to 1,500 participants from over 120 countries. C&A will also host a panel discussion titled “Making a Public Awareness Campaign Work! A Multimedia Experience” at 11 a.m. on Oct. 31. C&A President Beatriz Casals, a native of Cuba, will moderate the panel discussion, which will form part of the conference’s “Sustainable Globalization” portion.

“We are very excited about once again sponsoring the International Anti-Corruption Conference along with our colleagues at Transparency International,” Casals said. “This conference helps shape the future agenda of the anti-corruption movement. The issues the conference will cover, such as energy security, human security and sustainable globalization, are critical issues in today’s world. Moving them forward with transparency and accountability will be key for successful action to take place.”

Additionally, C&A will participate in the “Lessons Learned in the Implementation of the ‘Guatemala Declaration for a Region Free of Corruption’” workshop taking place at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 30 as part of the conference’s “Peace and Security” portion. C&A is also sponsoring conference participants from Transparency International (TI) chapters in Armenia, El Salvador and Guatemala as well as helping TI chapters from other countries to attend the conference.

“We have collaborated and supported many TI initiatives over the years, and C&A staff from around the world serves as frequent readers to TI’s highly recognized publications,” said William Jeffers, C&A vice-president of international programs. “This Conference is one more example of how TI and C&A are working together to help facilitate strategy design, networking and partnership building to curb corruption and foster transparency and accountability globally.”

Since its founding in 1983, the IACC series has evolved into the premier international forum for all who are committed to the fight against corruption. The theme for this year’s IACC is: “Global Transparency: Fighting Corruption for a Sustainable Future” with a focus on the role of transparency and accountability in human security, climate change, sustainable globalization, and natural resource exploitation and management.

This year’s IACC is being jointly organized by the Hellenic Ministry of Justice, the TI Secretariat, the IACC Council and TI-Greece. Besides C&A, the other four cosponsors are the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) and Dow Jones. This is the second IACC in a row that C&A has cosponsored. The firm also cosponsored the 2006 IACC in Guatemala.

C&A is an international development and strategic communications firm delivering groundbreaking solutions to social, institutional and political challenges. Founded in 1986 by Beatriz Casals, the firm works globally addressing democracy and governance, rule of law and justice, conflict management and recovery, health and other urgent issues facing societies today. Headquartered in Alexandria, Va., near Washington, D.C., C&A has more than a dozen offices on four continents.”

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