Dec 14, 2023
SEPCA General Assembly under the Republic of Srpska SEPCA Presidency
On December 14th, 2023, the SEPCA General Assembly under the Republic of Srpska SEPCA Presidency 2023 took place in Banja Luka, Republic of Srpska (BiH) which was organized with financial support of the Criminal Intelligence Service of Austria (BK) through the Internal Security Fund 2021-2027.
The event brought together the Police Chiefs from the SEPCA member states and SEPCA’s partners like BK and EU4FAST WB Project.
The main goal of the SEPCA General Assembly was exchange of information on serious and organized crime with a cross-border dimension. The Police Chiefs from the SEPCA member states presented the country situation on serious and organised crime during 2023 and specified the new crime trends.
Besides that, the SEPCA Presidency in Office for 2023, Police Director of the MoI of the Republic of Srpska, Mr. Siniša Kostrešević underlined the activities carried out during this year with the support from BK and other partners (iPROCEEDS-2 and CSC WB IPA 2019 Project). The most relevant achievements were:
- SEPCA Cybercrime Conference that was organized in March 2023, in Banja Luka;
- Creation of the SEPCA Cybercrime Network;
- Establishment of the SEPCA Women Police Officers Network;
- Workshop “SEPCA countries in the fight against Trafficking in Human Beings, Migrant smuggling and counterfeiting of documents”, held in November 2023, in Vienna.
All these activities come to implement the recommendations set in the SEPCA Threat Assessment Report.
Another goal of the event was focussed on presentation of the future activities that will be organised in the next 3 years with the expertise and support from BK. The representative from BK, Project Manager, SEPCA Regional Coordinator, Ms. Elena Gherta mentioned about the activities that will be conducted during the Serbian SEPCA Presidency 2024, Albanian SEPCA Presidency 2025 and Bosnian Federation SEPCA Presidency 2026.
Also, Ms. Elena Gherta mentioned about the importance of implementation by all SEPCA member states of the “Declaration on cooperation and improving of the position of women and women’s networks in police from the Region”, that was signed during the Regional Conference of the Women Police Officers Networks in October 2023, in Belgrade.
In the last part of the event, the Republic of Srpska handed-over the Presidency to the Republic of Serbia and Mr. Siniša Kostrešević sent his best wishes and success.
Serbia presented its priorities and activities that will be carried out in 2024 and mentioned about the importance of strengthening the cooperation with Interpol by opening an Interpol Regional Office in Belgrade.
