In a major announcement that underscores the Dominican Republic’s commitment to global anti-corruption action, President Luis Abinader has confirmed the country will play host to the 2026 International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC), the world’s leading global forum dedicated to advancing transparency, institutional integrity, and collective action against corruption. The landmark event is scheduled to run from December 1 to 4, 2026, in Santo Domingo, and is expected to draw more than 2,000 attendees representing over 140 nations across the globe.
The official confirmation was made during a gathering with senior executives from the Dominican Republic’s top media outlets, where President Abinader appeared alongside leadership from Transparency International and the IACC organizing committee. Speaking at the event, Abinader reaffirmed that tackling systemic corruption and ending impunity for corrupt practices stands as one of the central policy priorities of his administration. He framed the upcoming conference as a unique opportunity for the Dominican Republic to deepen collaborative ties with the global community, while working to strengthen transparent governance across public and private institutions at home.
Carlos Pimentel, Director General of Public Procurement in the Dominican Republic, expanded on the legacy and scope of the IACC. He noted that the biennial event has a 30-plus year history of convening diverse stakeholders to advance anti-corruption action. Unlike closed diplomatic gatherings, the 2026 conference will bring together a broad cross-section of actors: sitting government officials, leaders of major international organizations, civil society activists, leading academic researchers, senior business executives, investigative journalists, and veteran anti-corruption experts. All attendees will collaborate to develop and refine actionable strategies for preventing and prosecuting corrupt activity around the world.
Roberto Pérez Rocha, Director of the IACC, outlined the ambitious agenda set for the 2026 gathering. This year’s conference will tackle a range of emerging and persistent threats tied to corruption, ranging from risks to democratic governance and environmental crime to illicit cross-border financial flows, the intersection of artificial intelligence and corrupt practice, and the role of disinformation in enabling unaccountable power. Investigative journalism will hold a central place on the agenda, with leading global press institutions including the Pulitzer Center, the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN), and the Press and Society Institute (IPYS) set to lead skill-building training sessions and high-level panel discussions on the role of independent media in exposing corruption.
François Valérian, President of Transparency International, one of the event’s co-organizers, praised the Dominican Republic’s decision to step forward as host. Valérian emphasized that corruption is not a problem limited to individual nations—it is a transnational challenge that can only be addressed through coordinated, cross-sector cooperation between governments, civil society groups, the private sector, and independent media. He added that the 2026 IACC will facilitate the sharing of evidence-based best practices designed to strengthen transparency, public accountability, and democratic institutions in every region of the world.