The central topic for discussion was the cooperation of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH and BiH institutions with Europol, primarily in the exchange of information.
Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH Gordana Tadić met with the newly appointed Europol Liaison Officer to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Miroslav Liska.
The meeting was held with the aim of introducing the Europol Liaison Officer to BiH and discussing the process of joining Europol’s analytical projects.
The Prosecutor’s Office of BiH participates in a number of international operations, with partner institutions abroad, and every form of cooperation and exchange of information is necessary and useful.
On April 12th last year, at a meeting with a visiting delegation from EUROPOL hosted by BiH Minister of Security, Dragan Mektic, and the RS Minister of Interior, Dragan Lukac, and the FBiH Minister of Interior, Aljosa Campara, an agreement was reached to establish at the BiH Ministry of Security the joint point of contact for implementation of the information sharing Agreement between EUROPOL and BiH.
EUSR/HOD Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, who was also present during the meeting, and the visiting EUROPOL Delegation welcomed the understanding reached among the three ministers as an important step in further improving cooperation and coordination on security and law enforcement matters between the European Union and Bosnia and Herzegovina. BiH is the only operational partner of EUROPOL in the Western Balkans which did not yet have such a national point of contact.
The type of information exchanged covers all forms of organised and other serious crimes, such as terrorism, arms trafficking, human trafficking cyber-crime, child sexual abuse, homocide and armed robbery.
The Joint Contact Point will consist of an office with seconded staff from all relevant police authorities in BiH at all levels of government. The European Union will provide support as appropriate to the establishment of the Joint Contact Point.
The establishment of the Joint Contact Point will also pave the way for an exchange of police liaison officers between EUROPOL and BiH, which will further improve coordination between law enforcement agencies in the European Union and Bosnia Herzegovina.
