On 15-16 September 2022 a conference of criminal police heads of Nordic and Baltic countries, and their representatives, was held in Vilnius, which was the event to publicise the Project – “Strengthening of Inter-agency Cooperation and Increasing of Crime Investigation Quality in the Lithuanian Police” under “Justice and Home Affairs” programme financed from the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021. The event was attended, beside the heads of the Police Department under the Ministry of the Interior, Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau and of the Lithuanian Police Forensic Science Centre, by heads of the criminal police and other high-ranking officials of Norway, Finland, Estonia, Poland and Latvia.

During the conference aims and objectives of the Project were introduced and the progress made in the implementation of them and the outcomes were welcomed. The impact of the current war in Ukraine on the regional security in the context of organised crime was inevitably the impetus for the conference and one of the key subjects of the discussions. The countries shared their insights and threat assessment in the short, medium and long term, exchanged their predictions in relation to the crime situation in the region and discussed possible common actions and response to these threats in the light of the current geopolitical, economic and social developments.

The conference organised as part of the Project has not only provided the opportunity to introduce the Project and its results but also served as the background for criminal police heads of the Nordic-Baltic Region to get in closer communication, share experience and challenges faced.

The conference was arranged in the framework of the Project - “Strengthening of Inter-agency Cooperation and Increasing of Crime Investigation Quality in the Lithuanian Police” financed through the Norwegian Financial Mechanism programme “Justice and Home Affairs”. The Project aims to enhance Lithuanian and Norwegian police capacities and international cooperation through sharing best practises in the fight against crime, and to strengthen competencies of the Lithuanian police in preventing, disclosing and investigating crimes through implementation of innovative technologies and organisation of training courses.