Kazakhstan to address corruption

ASTANA, Kazakhstan, May 6 (UPI) -- Kazakh security authorities Wednesday concluded a seminar to discuss implementing anti-corruption methods that meet international standards.

The two-day seminar, set up by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, brought together an estimated 100 security and customs officials in an effort to identify more effective methods to combat corruption and strengthen Kazakhstan's security, the OSCE reported.

Officials from the World Bank and the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, among other experts, also attended the seminar to assist Kazakhstan in implementing new methods and practices that meet international standards and strengthen efforts to counter transnational criminal groups in the Central Asia region.

"The presence of corruption in customs seriously undermines the economic and political security of the country and reduces opportunities for economic, social and overall national development," Ambassador Alexandre Keltchewsky, the head of the OSCE Center in Astana, Kazakhstan, said in a statement.