A top Interpol officer with expertise in cases of missing children said yesterday he had been “impressed” with the progress of a Greek police investigation into the disappearance of 11-year-old Alex Meshivili, a probe that has been widely criticized in this country.

Alain Remue, the head of Belgium’s missing persons unit, made his comments after visiting the northern town of Veria, where Alex disappeared in February 2006, and speaking with officers handling the case. “My Greek colleagues have done an excellent job. It is a very difficult case and they had to examine many different parameters,” he said.

Remue said he had not drawn any conclusions about the case but indicated that this would not be his role. “If this case can be solved then it will be solved by the Greek police,” he said. Remue said he would be “at (the police’s) disposal for whatever they need.”

Remue also met with Alex’s mother and her lawyer, who said he had sought Remue’s involvement in the case “within the framework of the international convention on children’s rights.”