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Speeches of the Ambassador:

It is a pleasure for me to address you at today's official launch of this training course on Criminal Intelligence Analysis. Let me begin by first expressing my gratitude to the Institute for Security Studies and INTERPOL as organizers of the event, and to the EU as a partner in the implementation of the Enhancing Africa's response to Transnational organized crime project that is facilitating this training. And also, allow me warmly welcome the officers who are joining us in this training from our region including Botswana.

The EU is proud to support ENACT: a project that is dedicated to enhancing Africa’s response to transnational organised crime. We are working to increase awareness, produce evidence-based knowledge and build skills, as we will be doing during this week's training.

Organised crime transcends borders, threatening governance, peace and development. It fuels conflict and corruption, infiltrates business and politics, and triggers violence. 

One of the most devastating effects of transnational organised crime is its ability to divert resources that could have been dedicated to develop our peoples, reduce poverty and contribute to the improvement of basic services for our communities.

And the harmful effects of these are felt by every region; and by all levels of society.

West, Central and North Africa are no different. Here, too, shifts in trade, finance, travel and communication have given rise to enormous opportunities for criminals.

The EU and its partners, through the implementation of the ENACT project, are committed to profiling the issue of transnational organised crime in a way that equally reflects Africa’s efforts, goals and challenges.

I am sure this training will assist you in your strategy to combat organized crime, and will improve your knowledge and skills to carry out investigations and exchange information using criminal intelligence analysis.

I know many of your countries have successfully advanced in developing legislative frameworks required to effectively combat organised crime. But we also have to make sure that the will and capability to enforce it is also present. And for this, You, the delegates/trainings, are at the forefront in finding solutions to this scourge.

Having said this, allow me to thank you for coming to Botswana and wish you a fruitful engagement during the next four days of the training – a sure sign of your active commitment in the fight against organized crime. I wish you a very constructive and informative workshop.

Ke a leboga. Pula!

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Delegation of the European Union to Botswana and SADC.