Doha, December 15 (QNA) - Qatar Chamber Board Member Mohamed bin Ahmed Al Obaidli emphasised that business integrity has become a strategic pillar for strengthening trust, enhancing competitiveness, and ensuring the long-term sustainability of the private sector.

Speaking at the Private Sector Forum 2025, held in Doha as part of 11th session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption under the theme "Future-Proofing Business Integrity: AI, Innovation and Global Collaboration," Al Obaidli said that integrity is no longer limited to regulatory compliance, but is a national necessity and a core driver of responsible governance and sustainable economic development.

He pointed out that business integrity is built on ethical values, transparency, responsible decision-making, and effective governance frameworks, including adherence to laws and international standards, anti-corruption measures, transparent reporting, and fair dealings with partners and suppliers.

He also highlighted Qatar's leading role in promoting transparency and combating corruption in line with Qatar National Vision 2030, noting that the country has established a strong legislative and institutional framework following its ratification of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). He also commended the pivotal role of the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority (ACTA) in leading national initiatives that promote ethical conduct and accountability.

He further pointed to the launch of the National Strategy to Promote Integrity, Transparency, and Combat Corruption 2025-2030, which introduced more than 78 national projects implemented in partnership with government entities, the private sector, and civil society organizations.

Addressing future challenges, Al Obaidli noted that while artificial intelligence (AI) offers significant opportunities to enhance business performance, compliance, and transparency, it also raises ethical and governance considerations that require clear regulatory frameworks. With proper oversight, AI can serve as an effective tool for risk detection, financial monitoring, and transparency across supply chains, particularly benefiting small and medium-sized enterprises.

He also highlighted Qatar's progress in innovation and artificial intelligence, positioning the country as a regional hub for emerging technologies through continued investment in research, talent development, and digital infrastructure across sectors such as healthcare, education, transportation, and cybersecurity.

Al Obaidli reaffirmed Qatar Chamber's commitment to supporting innovation, digital transformation, and the responsible adoption of AI across industries. He noted that Qatar Chamber joined the UN Global Compact in 2020, underscoring its dedication to responsible business practices, sustainability, and anti-corruption principles.

Participants in the Private Sector Forum 2025 stressed the need to harness artificial intelligence in combating corruption and economic crimes, emphasizing the importance of utilizing emerging technologies and artificial intelligence systems in combating corruption and addressing its links to organized crime and other financial crimes.

They emphasized that technology and artificial intelligence systems play a pivotal role in monitoring, risk management, and integrity systems, and enhance transparency and disclosure standards for companies and financial institutions. They pointed out that artificial intelligence has the ability to handle big data and numbers, as well as texts that are controlled through numbers, emails, words, and related details, which facilitates access to knowledge for stakeholders and its placement in specific systems, thus enhancing the chances of successfully confronting corruption and its related forms.

They pointed out that artificial intelligence also greatly supports the process of good governance and improves over time the performance of institutional expertise, experience and knowledge, as it can help reduce the costs of several businesses, and reduce the cost of energy, people working or taxes. They noted that there is a great opportunity in the field of efficiency to push it to the front of the agenda in a way that helps improve business performance.

The forum participants added that efficiency supports good governance, and that when there are digitized and efficient pathways, identifying problems can become clearer and easier. The more efficient, economically viable, and less costly work becomes, the more it enhances the success of projects and creates added value for business owners and the state.

They pointed out that many countries have adopted legal frameworks to protect whistleblowers, but their implementation remains weak, stressing the importance of companies having a system to protect whistleblowers, because without such credible protection, whistleblowers may fail.

In the same context, the forum participants stressed the importance of establishing international frameworks that classify artificial intelligence systems based on their risks, set controls for their regulation, and deepen the culture of legislation towards this important transformation called "risk-based legulation" through compliance strategies and local laws that highlight fairness, accountability, and transparency.

They emphasized the importance of transparency accompanying technological transformation, in terms of the ability to interpret and analyze artificial intelligence systems, transparency in their operations, and clarification and interpretation of their decisions, especially when there are significant risks, in addition to periodic auditing of artificial intelligence operations and the fairness of its outputs, especially regarding data privacy. They noted that automated analyses have helped to detect and mitigate some emerging risks. (QNA)