Skopje, 22 July 2024 (MIA) — Customs Administration director Boban Nikolovski met Monday with the Acting Head of Public Security and Community Outreach Department at the OSCE Mission to Skopje Mark Dixon to discuss tackling crime and corruption through improving intelligence capacities, an official press release said.

According to the Customs Administration release, meeting participants agreed on the need of "raising the status of the profession, a fierce fight against crime and corruption through the improvement of intelligence capacities as well as implementing a strategic approach by all institutions."

They also agreed that only staff who demonstrated a high level of professionalism would take training courses from now on, and the training would be field-based. 

Nikolovski and Dixon said that strengthening cooperation should lead to institutional capacity-building in the fight against organized crime.

"Our goal is to raise the level of professionalism," Nikolovski said, adding that staff also needed to show integrity and leadership in implementing security policies.

Dixon said one of the OSCE objectives was to improve interoperability between institutions to contribute to a more effective fight against organized crime and corruption. mr/