SELDI was first discussed with regional stakeholders at the Coalition Building and Monitoring in Anti-Corruption: Strategies and Impact in Central and Eastern Europe Conference held in June 1999 in Varna, Bulgaria and the Southeast Europe Anti-Corruption Forum, held in Sofia on 25-26 February 2000. Represented at the conferences were non-governmental organisations from the countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, FYROM, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, and Serbia and Montenegro and Bulgarian government institutions, as well as USAID, the World Bank, OECD’s Anti-Corruption Network, the United Nations Development Programme, Transparency International, the European Commission, the Council of Europe, and other bilateral assistance agencies. SELDI was further presented at the Ninth International Anti-Corruption Conference Global Integrity: 2000 and Beyond held in Durban, South Africa in October 1999. The good governance aspect of the Initiative was discussed at the seminars Legal Prevention and Judicial Control of Corruption, and Responding to the Challenges of Corruption organised by IDLI and the International Scientific and Professional Advisory Council of the UN Crime Prevention and Crime Justice Program in November 1999 in Rome. SELDI was also featured at the inaugural meeting of the World Bank’s Global Development Network meeting in Bonn in December 1999.

SELDI is distinguished from the other region-wide initiatives in that it seeks to facilitate practical efforts aimed at addressing specific needs and in the leading role of civil society and private sector institutions in its implementation. It is the first NGO-led effort to promote legal cooperation as an instrument for regional development and democratization. (more)