Fighting graft crucial to achieve G20 growth targets: TI

Global anti-corruption group Transparency International (TI) said Saturday that fighting graft is very important for the G20 to achieve its growth targets and lauded China's collaboration with Australia against corruption.

In an interview with Chinese journalists at the G20 Leaders Summit venue in Brisbane, Maggie Murphy, senior policy advocate of TI, said corruption was not only important to G20's goals of increasing international growth, but also important to the resilient and stability of the financial system, Xinhua reported.

"We know that every year, five percent of global GDP is the cost of corruption. That's a lot of money leaking out the back door. That money should go to buildings, hospitals and schools," said Murphy.

She added that G20 leaders said corruption was an issue and they would be developing a brand new two-year anti-corruption action plan, which she called as "a really good and strong development".

Murphy also praised China for its recent anti-corruption measures and actions.

"What we have seen very recently is that (fighting) corruption is now very high on China's agenda, a lot of very good high-level political will, that's crucial, because without high-level political will, we won't be able to see the changes we need," she said.

She noted that China said at the newly concluded Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings that countries needed collaboration on corruption issues, calling it as very important, as G20 members needed to collaborate with each other and move from word to action.

On Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that the APEC member economies have decided to set up a cross-border law enforcement network to strengthen transnational anti-corruption cooperation in the region.

"We've seen China's collaboration with Australia here, that is very important," she added.

Police authorities of Australia are cooperating with the Chinese authorities in hunting down corrupt Chinese officials who fled and settled in Australia.

TI, a non-governmental organisation founded in Germany in May 1993, is one of the leading global anti-corruption organisations. Its annual Corruption Perceptions Index is used by companies across the world when conducting risk assessment.