BUCHAREST, January 28th – The SECI Center management welcomed today the Austrian Federal Minister of Interior, H.E. Günther Platter, H.E. Martin Eichtinger, Austrian Ambassador to Romania and H.E. Cristian David, Minister of Interior and Administrative Reform of Romania.
The main topic of the meeting concerned the exchange of information in international investigations, facilitation of contacts at the operational level in the newest project, International Law Enforcement Co-ordination Units (ILECUs).
„We are very interested in the ILECUs project, the establishment of international law enforcement co-ordination units in Southeast Europe countries. We look at this issue as an important step for further cooperation with the states in the region”, H.E. Günther Platter affirmed.
Gabriel Sotirescu, deputy director of SECI Center declared that „the SECI Center is interested in this project. According to the SECI Agreement, the member countries must establish their own national focal points. We have experience in creating such a cooperation network, and we will support the ILECUs project as much as possible.”
The Romanian minister of interior assured the management of the SECI Center of Romania’s continued support: “If we want to fight organized crime, we should sustain such initiatives and give more power to the SECI Center.”
The SECI Regional Center for Combating Transborder Crime, headquartered in Bucharest, Romania, was launched in 2000, and is a unique operational organization in which police and customs liaison officers from 12 member states (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey) work together in direct cooperation, coordinate joint investigations and facilitate information exchange.
Besides the member countries, there are 21 observers, countries and organizations: Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Canada, EUBAM, France, Georgia, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, Ukraine, UNDP Romania, the United Kingdom, UNMIK, and the United States of America.
Italy and the United States maintain permanent representation at the SECI Center, and Interpol and the World Customs Organization are permanent (non-resident) advisors to the SECI Center.
