Dear Ms Barkalaia,

We received your contacts from Mr Jurate Juodsnukyte from the EUD in Tblisi, and we are contacting you on behalf of the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI).

Within the framework of the new EU-UNICRI project to enhance the recovery of assets linked to organised criminal activity in the EU Eastern Partnership Countries, UNICRI’s experts are conducting research studies on illicit financial flows for each of the Eastern Partnership countries. The studies will highlight the value of prioritising policies to reduce illicit financial flows and to more effectively and efficiently seize and confiscate illicitly-obtained assets.

The research for each of these studies is nearing completion.  Still, it will not be complete without the valuable and much-needed feedback from key stakeholders. A key part of these studies will allow us to indicate to policymakers just how much certain sectors (including the health, employment, education and infrastructure sectors) can benefit if the country were to successfully prioritise the seizure and confiscation of only a small percentage of the illicit financial flows related to organised crime. 

Accordingly, we would be most grateful to briefly speak with you (or any other key official you wish to designate in your Ministry) to help us convince policymakers to bolster the budget for your Ministry; an official with knowledge of how much, for example, it costs to build clinics, or roads (or other infrastructure) or to support employment policies and subsidies, would be most helpful.

To this end, please let us know when you (or another relevant official) would be available for a Zoom call on either Wednesday 4 or Thursday 5 (afternoon your time) next week.

Thank you in advance for your much-valued support and input to these important studies being carried out by the United Nations.