According to the forum organizers, Myanmar's civil service is currently focused on available resources rather than on human capacity development and public service culture, and despite the current principles of meritocracy, integrity and accountability, favoritism and nepotism remain its hallmarks.

The plan, the preparation of which began in the summer of 2016, aims to create a public service in the country that is ethical, quality-oriented, mutually inclusive, and able to respond quickly to the needs of society.

The plan includes 4 main objectives:

• Introduction of new management principles in the public service;
• establishing a merit-based and performance-oriented culture and system;
• focus on human resources, leadership and capacity development;
• openness and accountability in the public service.

Among other things, the plan provides for more effective training of civil servants, including on the basis of the Civil Service Academy established in February this year, the development of codes of ethics, the development of mechanisms for the protection of complainants, the public disclosure of information on all actions of the authorities, as well as the improvement of mechanisms for the declaration of assets of employees in senior and high-risk positions.

A special oversight committee, headed by the chairman of the Union Civil Service Board, will be established to ensure implementation and monitor the plan's implementation.

The adoption of the plan is a continuation of the country's anti-corruption reforms: theAnti-Corruption Law, also known as Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 23/2013, has been in place in Myanmar since 2013, and the President's Office Guidelines on Accepting Gifts were adopted in 2016.

The Anti-Corruption Law in conjunction with the provisions of the country's Criminal Code establishes liability for bribery: giving, receiving, extorting, attempting to extort, promising, offering a bribe, discussing such opportunities. The maximum term of imprisonment for violation of anti-corruption norms is 15 years.

In addition, the Law provides for the establishment of anAnti-Corruption Commission with the functions to independently investigate and prosecute violations of the anti-corruption law.

The guidelines on the receipt of gifts were designed to compensate for the insufficient regulation of this topic in the legislation. According to them, officials are prohibited from accepting any gifts from individuals or legal entities if they are related to their official duties. The exceptions are:

• gifts, the value of which does not exceed 25 thousand kyat (about 1,100 rubles), provided that the total value of gifts received from this person for the year does not exceed 100 thousand kyat (4,400 rubles);
• gifts received in connection with family or other personal relations;
• gifts on special occasions (religious holidays), if their value does not exceed 100 thousand kyat.

Employees are also prohibited from accepting gifts from foreign governments worth more than 400,000 kyat (17,500 rubles), travel, medical expenses, and sponsorship payments.

Despite all the efforts made to fight corruption, which have been positively recognized by Transparency International, Myanmar's position in theCorruption perception index 2016 ( CPI) is still very low: 136th out of 176 countries assessed.