U.S. and Slovak Customs Officials Hold Seminar on Integrity in the Public Sector

August 13, 2008

Ambassador Vincent Obsitnik and Buford Gates, Lead Trainer, hand Artur Moroz his certificate of completion of the 5-day seminar. Embassy photo: Igor Schneeweiss.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in cooperation with the Slovak Customs Administration and the U.S. Embassy in Bratislava, conducted a 5-day seminar on enhancing integrity in the public sector from August 4-8, 2008 at the Police Academy in Bratislava. Thirty-one members of the Slovak law enforcement community, including representatives from the Slovak Customs, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Interior, the Prosecutor General, Alien and Border Police and the Police Presidium took part, along with two officers from the Polish Customs Administration. In addition to presentations by CBP officers and trainers, who shared their experiences fighting corruption in the U.S., participants gave their own presentations on best practices within their own organizations and discussed what has worked best and what can be improved across a range of Slovak law-enforcement organizations. CBP trainers and Slovak participants shared experiences formally in the classroom and informally in several evening events that fostered camaraderie and mutual understanding between colleagues from three countries. At the end of the week-long seminar all the participants were presented with certificates in a formal ceremony presided over by the U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia, Vincent Obsitnik. CBP has provided similar trainings around the world, including in Poland, Ghana, Kenya, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.