Bucharest, 28th of May, 2013 – The 6th Meeting of the SELEC Council was organized in Bucharest at SELEC premises. 65 Delegates from all Members States and partners (EUROPOL, French Republic, INTERPOL, Italian Republic, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Japan Tobacco International, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, United States of America and World Customs Organization), as well as the representative of the EU project “Heroin Route II – Information Networks” attended the meeting.
On the occasion of its 6th meeting, the SELEC Council examined and approved important issues, such as the Annual Activity Report for 2012, the Annual Action Plan for 2013, as well as the financial package, including the revised Budget for 2013 and the Budget for 2014; also the Five-year Financial Plan for 2013-2017, which aims to provide a better and more efficient administration of the financial resources of SELEC for the next five years, was endorsed by the Council members.
In 2012, SELEC continues to grow in statistical figures, despite the inherent challenges of the transition period: 16,722 exchanges of requests and information circulated in the framework of the Center and 69 joint investigations were coordinated last year.
At the same time, there were 792 warning, feedback and seizure messages circulated during the 6 Regional Operations carried out in 2012, namely: “Shadow V” developed on combating cigarettes smuggling in Southeast Europe, “Green Pandora” that targeted a wide range of prohibited commodities with special focus on those affecting the environment and nature, “Hermet” targeting drug trafficking, “Orion” focused on trafficking of endangered species, “Lease Car” on stolen or misappropriated vehicles and the “Project Janus”, aiming to strengthen capabilities to detect and seize illicit container shipments through effective risk profiling.
During the 6th Meeting of the SELEC Council, the participants discussed also about the draft cooperation agreements with the countries and organizations which applied for Operational Partner status and mandated the SELEC Management to continue the negotiations to the next level.
The session was chaired by Mr. Sashko Kocev, the representative of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
