Today, June 21st, 2024, Cătălin Predoiu, the Minister of Internal Affairs, had a meeting with H.E. Mr. Giles Matthew Portman, the British ambassador in Bucharest.
The discussions included topics of mutual interest, mainly focused on measures to be taken to combat cross-border organized crime. The efficiency of police action to face the new challenges of criminality, including through institutional reform measures, was another addressed topic.
The Romanian dignitary evoked the very good cooperative relations between the two states, as well as the existing premises for their development, under the umbrella of the Romanian-British Strategic Partnership. The good practices identified as a result of bilateral police cooperation can be the basis of new cooperation initiatives, necessary to manage, in a coordinated manner, the new trends of the criminal phenomenon.
Both sides pay special attention to the security component, being strongly engaged in the joint effort to identify effective solutions to combat the various scourges of transnational organized crime.
The Romanian dignitary showed that border protection is a priority subject for Romania whose purpose is to strengthen and protect the area without internal border controls. The measures taken to reduce illegal border crossings, to limit secondary movements and to make the return system more efficient led to decreases at all levels of the indicators on crimes related to illegal migration. In addition, new effective tools have been implemented to facilitate the process of identifying individuals.
Both Romania and Great Britain must be prepared to cooperate even more to identify solid solutions for the multiple challenges that the European Union and the UK must face.
Minister Predoiu also stated that the operationalization of the Migration and Asylum Pact will represent for member states both a challenge and an opportunity to improve national migration and asylum management systems. At the same time, it is important to carry out a holistic assessment, in which all relevant actors are involved, in order to identify the best solutions.
Among the topics addressed was the reform of the Romanian Police. The Minister of Internal Affairs thanked the British partners for their support, highlighting that a key point of cooperation is the training component of specialized personnel. In this context, the interest of the two parties in carrying out exchanges of experience that would contribute to the efficiency of the process of initial and continuous professional training was emphasized.
The British ambassador highlighted the importance given by the UK to issues related to combating the flow of cash from crimes. States must quickly identify solutions to counter the actions of reinvesting the proceeds of criminal activities in the licit circuit. The Romanian dignitary showed that this topic is one of interest, it being important to coagulate the efforts of all the relevant actors involved in order to make the activity of the competent institutions more efficient.
In conclusion, the two interlocutors appreciated the exchange of opinions as a constructive one and expressed their conviction regarding the continuation of the collaboration in the same positive manner, in areas of common interest.
