Wednesday, May 5, 2010, Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. Victor Catan, had a meeting with Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Moldova, Mr Keith Shannon and liaison officer for Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA), Mr. Tim Lewis.
During the meeting, Mr. Tim Lewis made a presentation of SOCA core activities, priorities and tasks of the Agency, underlying the importance of cooperation with authorities from the region in order to combat organized crime.
Also, Mr. Lewis said that he hopes for a further collaboration between MIA and SOCA Agency, and he ensured the support in bilateral relations between both institutions.
Mr. Victor Catan thanked SOCA representative for the interest in strengthening of the relations between our institutions and mentioned that the British experience in combating organized crime, represents a good example for the Republic of Moldova.
During the meeting, Minister made a brief presentation of MIA subdivisions that are directly involved in combating organized crime, at the same time he emphasized the need for continuous training for ministry employees in order to achieve ministry’s objectives.
Mr. Catan said that this meeting will be a good opportunity to establish more fruitful and sustainable relationships with counterparts from Great Britain related to combating organized crime, illegal migration, human and drug trafficking, money laundering and arms trafficking.
At the end of the meeting the Minister expressed gratitude for SOCA interest to support MIA efforts in combating organized crime and welcomed the initiative of SOCA representative expressing the hope for growing cooperation.
