Regional: Cooperation between the Southeast European Law Enforcement Center (SELEC) and UNODC under the new Regional Programme for South-Eastern Europe

On 27 February 2024, Dr Oguz Serkant Akin, Director General of SELEC and Danilo Rizzi, UNODC Regional Representative for South-Eastern Europe held a consultation and coordination meeting in SELEC Headquarters in Bucharest (Romania) on the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the two organizations on 4 December 2012.

Capitalizing on the excellent collaboration between UNODC and SELEC, the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the practical steps for closer cooperation and collaboration under the reciprocal mandates and of the forthcoming UNODC Regional Programme for South-Eastern Europe. Areas of common interests and joint delivery will cover, transnational organized crime, drugs, money laundering, corruption, justice cooperation, trafficking in waste and overarching border control.

Dr Akin and Ms Tanja Levajkovikj, Director for Legal and Internal Affairs of SELEC, presented UNODC the Center’s mission and activities for 2024-2025, main thematic areas, capacity and existing cooperation mechanisms on regional and international levels. The meeting was followed by a visit to the SELEC office and to the training centre in particular.

The two offices agreed to continue regular contacts and ensure close coordination with joint delivery initiatives in order to optimize human and financial resources. The organizations will ensure a constant flow of information on ongoing and future initiatives in the region of South-Eastern Europe with the goal of assisting the countries of the region in a complementary manner.

UNODC may also consider supporting SELEC in establishing a stronger inter-regional link between South-Eastern Europe and the law enforcement and justice institutions from Latin America, West and Central Asia towards a more comprehensive response to global illicit trafficking of drugs and related illicit financial flows.