BUCHAREST, October 3rd – The Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, Ms. Jeri Guthrie-Corn, assured SECI Center’s management that it has the full support of the United States, during a meeting yesterday at the organization’s headquarters. Additionally, she encouraged the SECI Center to continue to focus on particular problems, such as drug or human trafficking.
“Having all these challenges, from terrorism and mafia to international organized crime networks, the SECI Center is a very important component to promote the rule of law”, Jeri Guthrie- Corn declared.
SECI Center Director Mitja Močnik referred to future center objectives in the region: “Besides the regular activities conducted by the Center, 2009 will bring more training seminars for law enforcement representatives of the member countries”. SECI Center Deputy Director Ion Gabriel Sotirescu stressed the importance of operational activities, and detailed particular cases supported by the center.
The United States maintains permanent representation at the SECI Center. DEA and FBI liaison officers, as well as a U.S. prosecutor, work on a daily basis with police and customs officers assigned by the member countries to the SECI Center.
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 13 member states (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, 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.
