“Crime knows no boundaries, cross-border co-operation is therefore all the more crucial for fighting crime”, Stability Pact Special Co-ordinator Erhard Busek said in Bucharest on the occasion of the signing ceremony of an exchange of information agreement between INTERPOL, the Southeast European Co-operative Initiative Regional Centre for Combating Transborder Crime (SECI Centre) and the Romanian Government. In line with the commitment of the Stability Pact Initiative against Organised Crime in South Eastern Europe (SPOC) to support the countries of the region through the promotion of operational cooperation, the new agreement links the regional information exchange on cross border crime to the established police co-operation within the INTERPOL-framework. Under the agreement, the SECI Centre will be connected to INTERPOL via the Romanian INTERPOL National Bureau located in Bucharest. The SECI Centre in Bucharest marked its official opening in October 2000. To date the Government of Romania has invested more than $3 million in the SECI Centre’s construction and infrastructure development. The Centre has been operational since January 2001 and now functions as a regional focal point for the communication and transmission of information in "real time" on cross-border crime. It is currently staffed by 15 liaison officers (police and customs officers) from 9 SECI countries working in close co-operation with law enforcement experts from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States and other interested countries. SPOC was adopted on 5 October 2000 by the Stability Pact Working Table III (Security Issues) in Sofia. It aims to develop policies and strategies against organised crime, including initiating legislation against organised crime and establishing of specialised units for regional and international co-operation. Eight Southeast European countries are participating and are forming a Steering Committee, which directs the initiative. An advisory panel of international organisations and experts has been formed in order to make the latest knowledge and practices on how to fight organised crime available to the region. Apart from organised crime, the Stability Pact also focuses on fighting against corruption, money laundering and trafficking in human beings and drugs. In May 1999, a SECI working group produced an "Agreement on Co-operation to Prevent and Combat Trans-border Crime". A "Charter of Organisation and Operation of the SECI Regional Centre for the Combating of Trans-Border Crime" is incorporated in the Agreement. 11 SECI Participating States have ratified this agreement. SECI Participating States include: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Slovenia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey and Yugoslavia.