Policy briefing:
July 12, 2001, Washington, D.C.
United States Chamber of Commerce
Organized by the Heritage Foundation, the Center for International
Private Enterprise, and the Center for the Study of Democracy
(Sofia, Bulgaria)
Stability and economic growth are dependent on forging strong
coalitions to create standards of integrity, expose corruption,
and advocate reforms. The Southeast European Legal Development
Initiative (SELDI) mission is to create such coalitions in
the private and public sectors throughout the Balkan region.
Building on the widely recognized accomplishments of Coalition
2000 in Bulgaria, SELDI is now being launched region-wide.
Coalition 2000 was established in 1997 by Bulgarian non-governmental
organizations to create a co-operative platform of public
and private institutions. The Coalition 2000 experience demonstrates
that a determined citizenry can demand better government and
turn the tables on the corrupt.
Objective
The purpose of the policy briefing was to introduce the US
policy and think tank community to the work of SELDI to diagnose
and advocate for policy reforms. The briefing focused on the
impact of the shadow economy and illegal trafficking in goods
on governance structures in the region and public-private
models for cooperation. Comparative corruption diagnostics
for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia,
Romania and Yugoslavia were presented.
Agenda (Listen to the meeting)
The briefing was a one and a half hour breakfast meeting
with invitees from the Department of State, Department of
Defense, Department of Justice, USAID, Council on Foreign
Relations, World Bank, European Commission Delegation and
others held. It was held at the United States Chamber of Commerce
in Washington, D.C.
Listen and view the speakers'
presentations on regional corruption monitoring and corruption
and trafficking.
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