On February the 20th, 2024, Mr. Cătălin Marian PREDOIU, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Internal Affairs, had a meeting with Mr. Christopher WRAY, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States of America.
The two dignitaries expressed their appreciation for the excellent cooperation between the two institutions and highlighted their commitment to its continuation.
During the meeting, the Romanian Minister of Internal Affairs highlighted the importance of joint activities, emphasizing upon the component of combating cross-border organized crime, namely drugs, human trafficking and cybercrime. From this perspective, the Ministry of Internal Affairs pays special attention to the destruction of criminal networks which, through their actions carried out including on the territory of Romania, endanger the safety of citizens. „We already cooperate very well with the FBI in multiple directions to fight crime and thereby protect the rights of our citizens. The development of this cooperation can only be beneficial for the efficiency of our national operations on the established priorities, namely the countering of organized crime, the trafficking of drugs, human beings, weapons, computer crime and terrorism,” said Minister Cătălin Predoiu.
Also, the support given by the FBI for the training and improvement of Romanian police officers within the Academy in Quantico – USA, as well as within the FBI Office in Bucharest, was appreciated. In the context of the decision to reorganize and develop the activities carried out by the Romanian Police Academy, the Romanian minister requested the support of American partners to support the reform process, in order to strengthen the institutional capacity of this educational institution: „We want to build a partnership between the Academy of Police „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” and the FBI Police Academy at Quantico. We want to build, in perspective, a mentality, attitude towards the profession and institutional culture that will raise the efficiency of the MIA’s action in a context where the criminological phenomenon is becoming more and more sophisticated and internationally integrated. We are opening development pathways that will continue for several years and that will necessarily include, in the following years, the rethinking and modernization of all MIA’ structures, their adaptation to this new dynamic and complexity of challenges. I thank the MIA’s employees and American partners engaged in these forms of cooperation with a direct and positive impact upon the safety of Romanian citizens. I thank the FBI Director Christopher Wray for the openness and responsiveness he proved during our discussions, that we agreed to continue with practical application in concrete measures of cooperation.„
