Bosnia-Herzegovina Prime Minister Adnan Terzic and Stability Pact Special Co-ordinator Erhard Busek officially inaugurate the new Regional Office of the Stability Pact Anti Corruption Initiative ( SPAI) on 27 October.  SPAI was adopted in 2000 and has since been a co-ordination tool for the national anti-corruption measures and especially a platform for experience exchange and donor project matching.  With the establishment of a permanent Regional Office, the participating Governments are emphasising once more, that the fight against corruption is a regional imperative linked to the image and the perceived investment potential of the region.  Special Co-ordinator Busek points out that: “The Regional Office has been located in Sarajevo thanks to the offer of the BiH Government.  This increases the number of Stability Pact related institutions in Southeast Europe and therefore is yet another element of growing regional ownership of the process.” 

Josip Brkiæ, Head of the Cabinet of the Deputy Ministry of Foreign Affairs and SPAI Senior Representative of BiH will be the Regional Office’s First Executive Secretary, while Cornel Virgiliu Calinescu, Chief of division for the prevention of criminality and corruption of the Ministry of Justice of Romania and SPAI Senior Representative will assume the position of anti-corruption Expert.

The Regional Office is designed to become a depositary of political commitments, an internationally acknowledged forum for policy dialogue, and a mechanism for knowledge transfer.   In its initial stages, the Regional Office will focus on legislation and training of judiciaries.  It will operate at both the senior political and technical expert levels.  The Regional Office will implement the adopted SPAI strategy.  

However, it must be noted that the main partners in this initiative are the Governments of SEE themselves.  SPAI is carried by eight SEE governments and the main international donors and supporters are: France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, USA, the Council of Europe, the EU Commission the OECD, and the World Bank.  SPAI is also supported by the major international NGOs in this field.  So far, SPAI received secretarial support from the OECD, the Council of Europe and the Stability Pact Office in Brussels.  These liaisons will remain intact, but will gradually be shifted to the new Regional Office in Sarajevo.