With a commitment to Montenegro's European perspective and institutional progress, the director of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, Jelena Perovic, attended today in Ohrid, together with delegations from the interior and justice ministries and the anti-corruption bodies of the Western Balkans (WB6), the signing ceremony of the Roadmap onAnti-Corruption and Illicit Finance Flowsfor the jurisdictions of the Western Balkans, which was agreed in the previous days at the Regional Forum.

The forum was organized under the auspices of the Berlin Process, an intergovernmental diplomatic initiative related to the enlargement of the European Union, with the aim of developing mutual ties between six Western Balkan countries and six EU members (Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, France and Italy).

The map, signed on behalf of their governments by representatives of the Ministries of the Interior, was prepared with the expert assistance of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Regional Anti-Corruption Initiative (RAI), and follows the outcome of the first Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly Against Corruption (UNGASS), held from 2 to 4 June 2021, including anti-corruption commitments adopted by jurisdictions in the UNGASS Political Declaration.

The document recognizes the goals of joint action of the Western Balkan countries in further strengthening the system of reporting income and assets and conflicts of interest, preventing and combating corruption in public procurement, improving the criminal justice response to corruption and economic crimes through the creation of a regional network of special prosecutors and improving the criminal justice response to corruption and crime in sport.

The map will provide an opportunity for the Agency to upgrade existing practices and anti-corruption mechanisms, but also to help countries in the region by transferring experience in digitizing systems and developing methodologies for reporting income and assets, and developing guidelines for public officials to familiarize themselves with the concept of conflict of interest and income and assets verification.