BUCHAREST, May 19th – Today, the SECI Center’s management welcomed the Deputy Attorney General of the United States of America, Mark Filip, who expressed his appreciation for the Center’s overall activity as well as the member countries’ efforts on countering organized crime in the region.
“The SECICenter has a lot to be proud of. I hope that in the future it will become even more operational and the member states will have more operational interactions with the United States through this important channel of cooperation which is the SECI Center”, the Deputy Attorney General affirmed.
Mr. Filip was very interested in the SECI Center’s operational activity and future developments, which were presented to him in detail by the Center’s Director, Mitja Močnik, Gabriel Sotirescu, the Deputy Director and Ibrahim Gül, Head of Legal/Internal Department.
“We are a special and unique organization and I think that our advantage is our flexibility and we intend to remain flexible,” stated Mitja Močnik, the SECI Center’s Director.
The United States of America, through its agencies, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, US Secret Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration, is one of the most active Observer states.
The SECI Regional Center for Combating Trans-border 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.
For more information, please visit the SECI Center website: www.secicenter.org.
