On August 30, the Director of the Economic Security Bureau Vadym Melnyk met with the Head of the EU Advisory Mission  EUAM Ukraine Antti Hartikainen and Deputy Head of the European Union to Ukraine Remy Duflo.

The agenda of the meeting was the launch of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine. According to Vadym Melnyk, the first steps to launch the ESBU will be:

• approval of the staff structure;
• provision of staffing, material and technical support;
• integration of analytical algorithms and accessing databases;
• building the ‘analyst – detective’ interaction;
• transfer of criminal proceedings from bodies that lose the function of investigating economic offenses to the ESBU.

The meeting resulted in the agreements reached on the creation of a working group to increase the transparency of competitive procedures for the selection of employees and their further professional development, exchange of experience in the fight against economic crimes and further international cooperation within the functions of the ESBU.

“I am sure the experience of European partners, their analytical and consulting support, will help boost the efficiency of the Economic Security Bureau, starting from personnel selection to overcoming the phenomena of cross-border economic crimes”, - Vadym Melnyk said.

Antti Hartikainen highlighted the importance of the creation of the ESBU, since the Bureau, according to him, is an essential part of the architecture of Ukraine's law enforcement agencies. The EU Advisory Mission is already developing a support package for the ESBU, once the Bureau starts working.

Since 2014, the EU Advisory Mission to Ukraine (EUAM) has been supporting Ukraine's state authorities in consistent reforming of the civil security sector through strategic advice and practical support for reform activities in accordance with EU standards and international principles of good governance and human rights.