The final conference of the two year project dedicated to strengthening regional cooperation in asset recovery practices in South East Europe was organised on 9 March 2021. The event dedicated to the presentation of a final project progress report provided a platform for those involved to comment project results and to look forward into anti-corruption agenda and the fight against organised crime.

The conference was attended by regional experts as well as leading international experts in law enforcement and asset recovery. Key speakers at the event were Tim Eicke, the judge in respect of the UK on the European Court of Human Rights, Hanne Juncher, the Executive Secretary of the Group of States against Corruption, and Burkhard Muhl, Head of the European Financial and Economic Crime Centre at EUROPOL.

Between 2018 and 2021 the AIRE Centre worked with the judiciary, prosecutors and decision makers in six jurisdictions, producing targeted publications, conducting training events and study-visits, and establishing the foundations for standardised statistical collection and analysis across the region. This project also contributed to the establishment of asset-recovery as a region-wide policy objective and laid the groundwork for a regional network of asset-recovery experts and practitioners.

The conference took place in a hybrid format, with a central event taking place in Sarajevo involving speakers and the presentation of the report which was accompanied by six regional hubs in all the jurisdictions of the region, connected to the central event via video-link. The project and the event were both supported by the UK Government and the AIRE Centre and RAI received assistance from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.