Between June 25th and 27th, The Siracusa International Institute is organizing the first National Strategic Dialogue on Illicit Trade in Pristina (Kosovo). The three-days programme involves several representatives of the major national institutions engaged in the fight against illicit trade. In particular, it includes representatives from the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Finance, from the Agency for Administration of Sequestrated and Confiscated Assets, from the Kosovo Judicial Council, the Kosovo Customs as well as the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council. The initiative includes also a delegation of police officers engaged in the fight against organized crime.
The NSD aims to:
- build knowledge and awareness about illicit trade as a multi-faceted threat requiring both whole-of-Government and whole-of-society approaches;
- highlight the importance of incorporating a robust cross-sectoral perspective in efforts to combat illicit trade at the national and international levels;
- draw on the expertise, extensive experience and insights of national leaders, policy-makers and criminal justice officials in developing a more comprehensive understanding of national strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the fight against illicit trade; and
- strengthen cooperation and collaboration between national institutions and criminal justice officials in the investigation and prosecution of illicit trade-related crimes.
The opening ceremony was held this morning with the opening of Mr. Filippo Musca, Acting Director General of the Siracusa International Institute. Additional remarks were also given by H.E. Piero Cristoforo Sardi, Italian Ambassador to Kosovo, Mr. Fatmir Gashi, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Finance of Kosovo, Mr. Afrim Kasolli, Advisor of the Ministry of Justice, Mr. Bahri Berisha, Director General of the Kosovo Customs, Mr. Fatos Rushiti, Advisor at the Minister of Interior, Colonel Fahredin Verbovci, Representative of Kosovo Police and Mr. Valon Jupa, Director of the Prosecution Performance Review Unit at the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council.
The NSD is organised within the framework of the Institute’s two-year research and capacity-building project, ‘Strengthening the Fight Against Illicit Trade in South Eastern Europe’ (or SEE-IMPACT),which is supported by PMI IMPACT, a global grant initiative of Philip Morris International to support projects dedicated to fighting illicit trade and related crimes.
SEE-IMPACT involves twelve countries of the Balkans area (Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey). The NSD in Kosovo is therefore only one of the national initiatives that the Institute is organizing in these months in other countries of the project. This initiative follows the first National Strategic Dialogue in the Republic of North Macedonia (May 28-30, 2019) and in Montenegro (Podgorica, June 18-20).
