Friday, September 15, 2006

OSCE Mission to Skopje supports regional cross border co-operation between national and Albanian border police

SKOPJE, 14 September 2006 - Strengthening co-operation between national border police and senior border police officers from northern Albania was the focus of an OSCE-supported workshop that ended today in Struga.

Participants focused on strengths and weaknesses of present border patrolling strategies and ways to improve co-operation to combat organized crime.

"We are pleased to see improved co-operation, information exchange and communication between the border police of two countries. This is an important step to a more efficient fight against organized crime on the both sides of the borders," said Philip Tolson, Head of Police Development Unit within the OSCE Mission to Skopje.

Marinko Kocovski, Director Assistant Chief General Inspector from the Border Police, added:

"Sharing best practices on how to fight border-crossing crimes along natural borders and on border crossing points was an extremely useful exercise for us and our Albanian counterparts."

The workshop complemented multiple regional meetings involving border police from neighboring countries.

Experts from both countries as well as from the OSCE Mission to Skopje, the OSCE Presence in Albania and the Border Adviser from the OSCE's Conflict Prevention Centre spoke at the workshop.

No comments: