The Republic of Srpska

The Republic of Srpska Police Director Sinisa Kostresevic held a meeting today in Banja Luka with a delegation of the IPA 2019 regional project "Countering Serious Crime in Western Balkans" led by project leader Carlo Verdiglione.                 The meeting analyzed the co-operation so far, and Director Kostreševic noted that the Republic of Srpska Interior Ministry is satisfied with the support it receives from the IPA project, with a special focus on the realization of operational meetings that achieved excellent results. First of all, co-operation was established, which resulted in the finding and deprivation of liberty of persons who committed crimes related to organized crime. As one of the current problems, the participants identified the departure of fugitives from BiH to neighboring countries Serbia and Croatia, which makes the co-operation and exchange of information with neighboring states very important. They agreed that it is necessary by the end of the year to organize a working meeting with representatives of the prosecution bodies of the two countries. Representatives of the IPA 2019 project met today with representatives of the Administration for Information and Communication Technologies, and the topic of the meeting was information systems, their use and data sharing. We remind that the IPA 2019 project "Support for the Fight Against Serious Crime in the Western Balkans" is the third regional project of its kind and is scheduled to last until 2023. Previously, regional projects IPA 2013 "Fight Against Organized Crime and Corruption" and project IPA 2017 "Fighting Serious Crime in the Western Balkans" were implemented, with western Balkan states participating in the implementation of these projects.