Montenegro: ICITAP Partners with Marshall Center to Counter Transnational Crime

On November 5, ICITAP-Montenegro reported on its partnership with the George C. Marshall Center to develop a tailored seminar for Montenegrin participants on the use of strategy and policy for effective responses to transnational organized crime (TOC). The seminar will build on approaches developed during the Marshall Center’s Global Program on Countering TOC. The tailored seminar will start with a series of virtual sessions, conducted using Zoom for Government. The virtual sessions started on October 28 and will be held once a week until late December. Fifteen participants have joined the seminar, representing the National Police Directorate, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Justice, and two prosecutorial branches. The participants are currently examining various approaches to developing strategy and in session #3 will begin to examine current approaches by the Government of Montenegro in working to counter TOC. The goal of this activity is for the participants to develop the framework of a national strategy on TOC and present it to senior leaders for further review. Development of a national strategy on CTOC is an important element of the EU Accession process. In Montenegro, ICITAP is funded by and works in coordination with the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).