Agenda | Speaker Biographies | Listen to the Discussion
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
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
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.
