In December 1989, working in cooperation with the then Department of Technical Cooperation for Development of the Secretariat, the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Program organized an interregional seminar to review the impact of corruption on good governance, public administration, and the judiciary. Recommendations of the seminar ranged from the need for targeted legislation and enforcement measures as well as the establishment of independent specialized bodies to ensure the development and enforcement of anticorruption measures. Corruption and measures to counter it continued to be the subject of various discussions and meetings on international crime concerns. This led the United Nations General Assembly to create an Ad Hoc Committee for the Negotiation of a Convention Against Corruption. The General Assembly gave the Ad Hoc Committee clear but broad terms of reference and asked it to complete its work by the end of 2003. The Ad Hoc Committee began its work in January 2002. It held seven sessions and completed the negotiations successfully on October 1, 2003. At the core of the negotiating process was the desire of all delegations to find an appropriate balance in the convention, so as to ensure that adequate and proportionate attention was given to prevention, criminalization, international cooperation, and asset recovery.