SEA-ACN Workshop | Strengthening Cross-Border Collaboration to Reform Government Procurement and Combat Corruption in Southeast Asia

Public procurement is a vital component of government administration and public expenditure management. It is an issue that has consistently received significant attention due to its inherent risks of corruption in public sector operations.

Despite shared challenges in public procurement processes across member states, a substantial gap remains in mutual understanding regarding the approaches needed to drive reforms in this area. Specifically, opportunities for countries to learn from each other’s strategies to combat corruption within procurement remain underutilized. This includes approaches to promote reform initiatives and the methods each country employs to overcome operational challenges. Moreover, the current landscape of cross-border corruption presents increasingly complex challenges, as offenders exploit this to conceal illicit activities. Effective international cooperation is therefore critical to identify issues and develop solutions beyond sovereignty, within the broader framework of international norms and policies.

In light of these issues, fostering and strengthening international collaboration is of utmost importance. Under the leadership of the Center for Knowledge hub for Regional Anti-corruption and good governance Collaboration (KRAC), along with the Southeast Asian Anti-Corruption Network (SEA-ACN) —a civil society network established under the facilitation of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and The Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Center) in Malaysia —organized a regional workshop. This gathering brought together anti-corruption agencies and stakeholders at both local and international levels to deliberate on the outlined challenges.

The regional workshop was held on February 17–18, 2025, under the theme “SEA-ACN, Regional Workshop on Best Practices and Reforms in Public Procurement” at the Grand Ballroom, SILQ Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand. It was organized by KRAC in collaboration with C4 Center, with support from UNODC. The event drew a total of 51 participants from 23 organizations, including over 34 representatives from multiple countries across Southeast Asia such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.