Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has stressed on the importance of procedural fairness in public procurement and award of contracts. <br/><br/>Inaugurating the 5th South Asia Region Public Procurement Conference in New Delhi today, Mr Jaitley said, transparency and fairness can enable a State to act in the best interest for its citizens in terms of price, quality and service delivery. He said, this will also help in avoiding elements of nepotism and corruption in public procurement. <br/><br/>Mr Jaitley highlighted the measures taken by the government to bring in greater transparency, fairness and efficiency in public procurement including launch of the Government e-Marketplace for online purchases of common use items.