On the 17^th of December, the last BAMIN Steering Group Meeting for 2020 was held, with the participation of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. BAMIN organises 1 Steering Group Meeting per year, due to COVID19 limitations and the need to constantly updated the Network on the evolution and implementation of the activities, the Secretariat has decided to organise 3 SGM one in February, June and December.

The last SGM was opened by Ms Anica Vucekovic, in representation of the BAMIN Presidency of Montenegro for 2020, followed by Ms Iris Pilika from the OSCE and Jill Thomas from the BAMIN Secretariat. The opening remarks highlighted how challenging 2020 has been but at the same time how BAMIN has managed to remain active and received the contribution from all Members Jurisdiction and non-members.

The BAMIN SGM is based on the rotation of three Members, in particular it comprises the previous (Bosnia and Herzegovina), current (Montenegro) and future BAMIN Presidencies (Albania). The SGM has a strategic importance for the network since it is the meeting during which the priorities for the upcoming year are decided, including discussion on the topic of the Annual General Meeting and future membership.

The meeting was delivered online and hosted by Montenegro, who will hand over the BAMIN presidency to Albania in 2020. This was the last Steering Group Meeting for Bosnia and Herzegovina, both Director Jakic (Federal Confiscated Property Management Agency) and Director Kusic (Seized Asset Management Agency of Republic of Srpska) highlighted how important the network is and has been until now for their Jurisdiction.

The main points of discussion of the Steering Group Meeting were the BAMIN Presidency for 2021 and 2022, the topic of the 2021 AGM and the need to implement mixed events as a priority for 2021.

The BAMIN Presidency will be held by Albania for 2021 and Croatia has confirmed the willingness to host the Presidency for 2022. The Steering Group for the next year will be composed by Albania, Croatia and Montenegro.

The Steering Group has also confirmed the topic of the BAMIN Annual General Meeting for 2021 which will focus on the Management of Seized and Confiscated Companies – which is considered as priority in the region as highlighted by Mr Ricku representing the Albanian Agency for Administration of Seized and Confiscated Assets. The tentative date for the BAMIN AGM is June 2021.

Lastly, the Steering Group has confirmed their willingness to further include Armenia, Georgia, Greece and Italy in the network, for a future membership of these Jurisdictions.

The meeting was supported by the OSCE, through an extra-budgetary project.