6-7 July 2021, Belgrade – RAI Secretariat Visits the Ministry of Justice and the Anticorruption Agency of Serbia

During the visit to Belgrade, from July 6 – 8, RAI Secretariat representatives Ms. Dejana Grbic-Velagic, Chief Programme and Communications Officer, and Ms. Elmerina Ahmetaj Hrelja, Project Manager – Anticorruption Expert held a meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Justice of Serbia – Ms. Bojana Scepanovic, State Secretary, Mr. Nikola Naumovski, Assistant Minister for International Legal Assistance and their associates.

RAI Secretariat also met with representatives of the Anticorruption Agency of Serbia – Ms. Ivana Cvetkovic, Assistant Director in the Sector for External Affairs and Strategic Development, Ms. Bojana Smartek, Senior Advisor, and Ms. Nada Radovic, Advisor, for Strategic Planning and Development.

At meetings, the current status of activities of the EU-funded project ‘Breaking the Silence: Enhancing Whistleblowing Policies and Culture in Western Balkans and Moldova’ was discussed and future collaboration agreed.

All agreed that whistleblowing is instrumental in the prevention and fight against corruption, as well as that institutional capacity building and public education are key to the enforcement of whistleblowing in Serbia.

RAI Secretariat and its government partners used this opportunity to also talk about collaboration on other activities, such as corruption proofing of legislation and corruption risk assessment, as well as the status of ratification of the recently signed International Treaty on the Exchange of Data for the Verification of Asset Declarations, all implemented under the ‘Southeast Europe – Together Against Corruption’ (SEE-TAC) project funded by the Austrian Development Agency.