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Battle Against Corruption

If you have a minute, here's an interesting article on a visit by U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow to Ecuador. He's in Quito today, and he says, "Ecuador needs to tackle corruption and control spending to rebuild confidence shattered by a 1999 default and attract investment to its oil industry."

Snow is to meet later today with Ecuador's Finance Minister Mauricio Pozo and President Lucio Gutierrez. The new government was elected in November on Gutierrez's promises to reform congress, fight corruption and reduce poverty in the oil and banana exporting Andean nation.

"What he needs to do, and he campaigned on it, is first of all deal with this corruption issue, which is a wet blanket on investment,'' Snow told reporters today after he arrived in Quito, midway through a tour of South America.