European Commission organises the first TAIEX Workshop on Anti-corruption Policies and Preventive Measures in Chisinau

The European Commission organises and funds a Workshop on Anti-corruption policies and preventive measures within the framework of the Technical Assistance Information Exchange Instrument (TAIEX) on 22-23 March 2007 in Chisinau. The Head of the EC Delegation in Moldova, Ambassador Cesare De Montis, will participate in the event. According to a press release from the EC Delegation to Chisinau, the Workshop on Anti-corruption policies and preventive measures is the first TAIEX event in Moldova and organised in response to a request of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Moldova. The objective of the workshop is to address a priority measure of the Action Plan, namely “improving the investment climate through appropriate structural reforms aimed at ensuring non-discriminatory, transparent and predictable business conditions and by the fight against corruption”. The workshop aims to familiarise Moldovan experts with the EU best practice in the field of anticorruption strategies. EU experts will present various strategies and concrete measures to fight corruption in the EU, with examples from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Romania. The first day (22 March) will draw on criminal policy issues, while during the second day (23 March) public and private initiatives against corruption will be discussed. This should lead to recommendations for the Moldovan authorities. The target audience of the Workshop includes representatives of the relevant Moldovan State authorities (Ministry of Justice, Centre for Fight against Economic Crime and Corruption, Supreme Court of Justice, General prosecutor’s office, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Border Guards, Customs, etc.), as well as representatives of the civil society. TAIEX aims at providing a number of non-EU countries including Moldova with short-term technical assistance in line with the overall policy objectives agreed between the European Commission and the beneficiary Governments. In Moldova, the TAIEX instrument is mostly helping Moldova in the field of approximation of national legislation with the EU norms and standards within the framework of the EU-Moldova Action Plan. TAIEX is a demand-driven instrument: assistance is generally delivered in response to requests from the beneficiary countries. The European Commission is also currently funding a project against Corruption, Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in the Republic of Moldova, co-financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the Council of Europe. The European Commission contributes EUR 3 mln to the above mentioned project.