New US$30 million round of Siemens Integrity Initiative calls for Middle East projects

The United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia have, among other countries, been identified as focus countries to benefit from the latest round of the Siemens Integrity Initiative, backed by US$30 million. The Siemens Integrity Initiative promotes projects around the world that seek to combat corruption and fraud, supporting educational and training programs. It also supports Collective Action, which is building alliances against corruption in a joint effort between business and institutions to establish clean markets and ensure fair competition. In the previous two funding rounds, eight projects in the Middle East have benefited from around US$12 million. 

This third tranche will see the selection of some 25 new global projects receiving around US$30 million of funding in total, over a period of three to five years. The Integrity Initiative is open to applications from legal entities including non-governmental organizations, international organizations, business associations and academic institutions. The selection process favors projects that have a direct impact on the private sector, and strengthen compliance standards and legal systems. 

“I’m proud to announce this call for Middle East companies to join our fight against corruption and fraud in the interests of clean business, healthy competition and sustainable economic development in the region,” said Nadeem Anwer, Regional Compliance Head, Siemens Middle East. “We have had great success with previous projects, including building multi-stakeholder integrity networks, trainings, workshops and the development of a GCC Integrity Index. This latest round of funding further underlines our commitment to anti-corruption in the Middle East and beyond.”

"We have made overall good progress with the Siemens Integrity Initiative. The projects from the first two funding rounds have demonstrated visible success, and have been assessed by an external evaluator, the Canadian Universalia Management Group,” said Sabine Zindera, who heads the Initiative within the global Compliance organization at Siemens. "I've been particularly heartened to see more and more committed and well-connected supporters joining us in our worldwide fight against corruption by rallying to the banner of "Collective Action". The external study has shown that commitment to clean markets pays off in economic terms, too. It's the key to success for sustainable business.”

The Siemens Integrity Initiative is part of the July 2009 settlement between Siemens and the World Bank, and the March 2013 settlements between Siemens and the European Investment Bank (EIB). The World Bank has audit rights over the use of the funds
(US$100 million over 15 years, beginning in 2009). It also has veto rights over Siemens’ selection of projects and organizations receiving funds. The agreement between Siemens and the European Investment Bank (US$13.5 million over five years, beginning in 2013) gives the EIB the right to review and provide ‘no-objection’ to the projects proposed. 

The first two funding rounds with 55 projects and committed capital totaling more than US$70 million have, at the request of the World Bank, undergone an external evaluation by the Universalia Management Group, which concluded that: "the overall findings of the mid-term review are positive".

A summary of the results of the external evaluation will be included in the Siemens Integrity Initiative annual report 2017, and detailed information about the criteria for selecting and supporting projects is available at the following link: www.siemens.com/integrity-initiative 

 Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for 170 years. The company is active around the globe, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of efficient power generation and power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. The company is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment – such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems – and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2017, which ended on September 30, 2017, Siemens generated revenue of €83.0 billion and net income of €6.2 billion. At the end of September 2017, the company had around 377,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.