Skopje, 13 November 2023 (MIA) — Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski participated Monday in the 24th Meeting of Police Cooperation Convention for Southeast Europe Committee of Ministers held in Belgrade.

According to the Ministry of Interior in a press release, meeting participants discussed the practical implementation of the PCC Prüm Agreement on Automated Exchange of Data.

Minister Spasovski told the meeting that the agreement was an improvement in regional security cooperation through facilitating criminal investigations and responses to security threats and challenges.

"It is the epitome, or a manifestation, of political will and readiness for cooperation and implementation of already established European practices," Spasovski is quoted as saying in the release.

The interior minister recalled the signing of the Mini Prüm Agreement, saying it was another proof of North Macedonia's committment to fit into the security system of the European Union and accellerate the country's EU accession process.

"North Macedonia," Spasovski said, "has seriously approached using the opportunities offered by the cooperation within PCC SEE. In fact, as I previously higlighted, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has allocated significant funding for meeting all technical prerequisites for effective data exchange."

He said that the Interior Ministry is finalizing its procurement and installation of a new Automated Biometric Identification System, which compares biometric identifiers such as fingerprints or palm prints from a crime scene or people's faces from photos.

The release stresses that a request had been made to connect to the PCC SEE network in accordance with the technical protocols of the Prüm Agreement. 

Minister Spasovski also spoke about the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) and Trans European Services for Telematics between Administrations (TESTA) systems.

He said the Interior Ministry had procured the CODIS system, for the exchange and comparison of DNA profiles allowing the linking of the data related to serial crimes, with the support of the US Embassy in Skopje and the DCAF Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance. He added that expert staff had already comleted the basic training for its use.

"It is important to note, for the connection of the aforementioned systems, that the TESTA equipment is physically located on the premises of the Interior Ministry but is under the administrative authority of the Ministry of Information Society and Administration," Spasovski said.

He said activities were under way to establish contact with the competent authorities of the European Union to receive guidance on how to meet the next administrative and technical requirements for connecting the two systems through TESTA.

In his address, Spasovski also thanked the Police Cooperation Convention for Southeast Europe Secretariat for its support in facilitating the communication between South-Eastern European police forces and their work. mr/

Фото и видео: МВР