On the occasion of the official signing of the Agreement on operational and strategic cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and EUROPOL, delegation of EUROPOL led by the Director Rob Wainwright visited the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) yesterday. Wainwright visited SIPA together with the Minister of Security of BiH Dragan Mektić and representatives of the EU delegation in BiH headed by the Head of Department for Rule of Law Richard Wood.
Delegation of EUROPOL met with the Deputy Director of SIPA Đuro Knežević and heads of organizational units Ernad Musić and Dragan Mumović.
After the presentation of work and role of SIPA in the security system of BiH, Knežević expressed satisfaction with the signing of the Agreement between BiH and EUROPOL, adding that this is a very important agreement and that SIPA will give its maximum in the fight against all kinds of crime under its jurisdiction, thus contributing to the safer environment for the citizens of BiH and the European Union.
Minister Mektić said that SIPA is the pride of BiH and as a priority in their work he singled out the fight against organized crime, terrorism and corruption. Furthermore, Mektić added that SIPA will cooperate with EUROPOL the most.
Wainwright also emphasized that fight against terrorism and organized crime is very important for EUROPOL, adding that SIPA and EUROPOL are natural partners because their jurisdictions are compatible. Moreover, he added that SIPA must take advantage of the opportunities that are now offered, given that the signing of the Agreement connected the BiH police with 40 other countries that signed the mentioned Agreement with EUROPOL.
Representatives of both delegations stated that in the future they will respect the Agreement and improve it additionally in order to enable increasingly efficient fight against security threats of the present times, SIPA stated.
(Source: faktor.ba)
