During the presentation (from left to right): Messrs. Alexander Stoyanov, CSD Director of Research; Vincenzo Celeste, President of No 2 Club of Diplomats; Plamen Minev, Dep. Minister of Finance and Plamen Mateev, CSD Head of Communications and Admin.

A meeting of No 2 Club of Diplomats was hosted by the Center for the Study of Democracy on June 22, 2000 to present the Coalition 2000 latest analytical output Corruption and Trafficking: Monitoring and Prevention.

Mr. Alexander Stoyanov, CSD Director of Research, introduced the aspects of corruption and illegal trafficking, represented in this publication, as one of the most important sources of "shadow economy" involving state officials and semi criminal groups in this country. He further outlined the statistics methodologies and research tools applied for corruption and fraud assessment, emphasizing on the necessity of proper cooperation among all entities to combat that event in the years to come.

The Deputy Minister of Finance and Head of Customs Directorate Mr. Plamen Minev stated this publication could be considered a good start and basis for future analyses of that kind. He further emphasized on the Customs' legal reforms made in compliance with EU legislation and staff restructuring, the projects and programs performed, yielding in tendencies for improving the administration's effectiveness and increased revenues of operations