in Bosnia and Herzegovina
25 February 2025, Konjic, Bosnia and Herzegovina – UNODC, in partnership with the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Police Administration, organized a roundtable on the topic of “Establishing a More Efficient Information Exchange System for Financial Investigations”. The event was part of the ongoing project “Strengthening the capacity and coordination of judiciary and law enforcement authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to effectively address corruption and organized crime”, funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS).
The roundtable brought together experts and key stakeholders from law enforcement, government agencies and financial institutions, to discuss the practicalities and challenges of improving data exchange for financial investigations in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH), with a view to establishing an operational FBiH Asset Recovery Office.
In her opening remarks Letizia Fischioni, AICS Deputy Director, emphasized Italy’s commitment to supporting BiH in this effort: “By providing technical assistance, sharing expertise, and fostering key partnerships, Italy is committed to helping BiH establish a more efficient and secure system for the exchange of financial investigation data, contributing to the country’s broader efforts in enhancing transparency, accountability, and the rule of law.”
Koen Marquering, UNODC Deputy Regional Representative, Regional Office for South-Eastern Europe (ROSEE) also shared his insights: “Information exchange is at the heart of effective financial investigations. By improving how we share information, we can detect illicit financial flows more quickly, identify the criminals behind these, and disrupt their operations.”
The workshop provided an opportunity to assess the current state of information exchange among FBiH institutions. Participants highlighted strengths and discussed challenges in relation to accessibility of information, data protection and confidentiality.
Participants agreed on next steps to improve information exchange during financial investigations in FBiH and made concrete recommendations on the potential use of inter-agency agreements, technology solutions for direct information exchange and strengthened networks of contact points.
The roundtable was part of broader efforts to align BiH’s systems with international standards for combating corruption and organized crime, in line with the EU accession process and the UN conventions.
