Vietnam gains significant outcomes in combating transnational crimes

The delegation includes officials from the Ministry of Public Security,  Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on November 27. The AMMTC 13saw the presence of delegations from the 10 ASEAN member states.

At the conference, participating delegatesrecognized and appreciated the efforts of ASEAN member states in the fight against transnational crimes, especially in implementing agreements adopted at AMMTC 12 in Naypyidaw, Myanmar as well as the ASEAN Action Plan on Transnational Crimes (2016 - 2025).

Speaking at the meeting, Minister To Lam briefed the delegates on Vietnam’s achievements in transnational crime prevention and fight since AMMTC 12. Over the past year, Vietnam has actively taken a number of effective measures to prevent transnational crime.

Regarding trafficking in persons, in 2019, the Vietnamese functional forces have detected 132 criminal cases involving 284 suspects and 229 victims. Regarding drug prevention and control, as of November 15, 2019, the Vietnamese functional forces have detected 24,552 drug-related cases, arrested 37,842 people involved, seized 1,584.36 kg of heroin, 136.98 kg of cocaine, 196.65 kg of opium, 254.4 kg of dried marijuana, 4.62 kg of weeds, 6.23 kg of ketamine, 1,755.74 kg and 1,363,495 pills of synthetic drugs.

Vietnam also successfully hosted the Ministerial Conference on Enhancing Cooperation Effectiveness in Combating Transnational Drug Crime in Hanoi on September 8-13, 2019.

Minister To Lam emphasized Vietnam's commitment to continue actively and responsibly joining all ASEAN cooperation mechanisms in general and promoting cooperation in transnational crime protection in particular when it assumes its Chairmanship of ASEAN and becomes a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council in 2020.

In order to improve the effectiveness of transnational crime prevention in the ASEAN region, Minister To Lam urged ASEAN member states to continue supportingVietnam's initiative to view smuggling ofantiquities as a priority cooperation area in SOMTC/AMMTC. 

The law enforcement agencies of ASEAN member states should continue to maintain and strengthen cooperation in the fight against transnational crimes, promote information exchange, enhance cooperation in crime investigation and support capacity building for law enforcement officers, he suggested.

The Vietnamese Minister also proposed to promote cooperation in criminal justice assistance between ASEAN countries and between ASEAN member states and its partners, in which priority is given to the negotiation of agreements on extradition and transfer of imprisoned persons and on legal assistance on criminal matters.

Finally, the AMMTC 13 adopted a Joint Statement, which mentions Vietnam as the host of the AMMTC14 and related conferences in 2020 and praises the efforts of the SOMTC working group on anti-terrorism in the fight against radicalization and extreme violence./.