Baltic Sea Task Force on Organised Crime meets in Riga

Baltic Sea Task Force on Organised Crime (BSTF) held its Annual Strategic Meeting in Riga on 29-30 November 2018. The meeting in Riga gathered high-level representatives from police, coast and border guards, customs and the Ministries of Interior – from all the CBSS member states. Latvian Chairmanship in the BSTF concludes with this event and goes to a joint German/Polish Chairmanship. 

During the opening remarks Mr Dimitrijs Trofimovs, BSTF Chairman and the State Secretary of the Ministry of Interior of Latvia, stressed the importance of cooperation with the CBSS  – especially related to the work against trafficking in human beings and children at risk. He also expressed an interest in following the Latvian Presidency of the CBSS more closely, in particular related to the Presidency’s priority “Integrity and Societal Security”.

Mr Janusz Gąciarz, CBSS Secretariat’s Senior Adviser for Civil Security presented the latest updates in the field of civil security cooperation in the CBSS context.  He briefed the participants on the progress of the Goldfinger project, which could become a stepping stone to establishing a more tangible network and platform for cooperation between law enforcement agencies in the Baltic Sea Region. Mr Gąciarz also presented the newly established Baltic Sea Region Research Network for Societal Security (BSR-RNSS) and the results of the STAC-CBRNE project.