The United Nations Office against Drugs and Crime (UNODC) announced on Thursday that Saudi Arabia’s representative, Dr. Nasser Abaalkhail, has been elected unanimously president of the Global Operational Network of Anti-Corruption Law Enforcement Agencies (GlobE Network) for the term 2025-2027.
Abaalkhail is the Deputy for International Collaboration at the Saudi Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha).
The announcement came during a high-level meeting for GlobE Network in Beijing, China, reported the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
Saudi Arabia’s victory demonstrates the leadership’s efforts to establish the Kingdom as a leading example in various fields, including combating corruption.
It also reflects the international community’s confidence in the Kingdom’s commitment to combating transnational corruption crimes, and strengthening the GlobE Network capacity to deny safe havens for the corrupt and their assets.
Moreover, it reflects the international community’s confidence in Saudi Arabia’s commitment to developing the tools needed to confront the evolving patterns of corruption crimes and the concealment of their proceeds.
The GlobE Network is a global initiative that Saudi Arabia launched during its presidency of the G20 Summit in 2020. The UN officially adopted the initiative in December 17, 2021, during the 9th session of the Conference of the States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption (CoSP), held in Egypt.
Furthermore, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, praised the initiative and Saudi Arabia’s role in establishing the GlobE Network in his speech during the opening of the first UN General Assembly special session against corruption in 2021.
At that time, Spain was the chair of the Network’s Steering Committee, while Saudi Arabia became vice chair. Over the past 3 years, 219 anti-corruption agencies and international organizations from more than 120 countries have joined the GlobE Network.
