Chief procurators and prosecutors from 10 ASEAN member states and China met at the 10th conference in Vientiane on November 9 to discuss strengthening cooperation in the fight against trans-national crimes.

Speaking at the event, Prosecutor General of the Supreme People’s Procuracy Le Minh Tri said over the past years, the Vietnamese side has maintained regular liaison with units involved in judicial assistance, enhanced judicial assistance with procuracies in border localities, leading to success in the combat against serious drug and human trafficking crimes with foreigners involved.

He suggested ASEAN and China work closely together to devise bilateral and multilateral cooperation agreements in criminal judicial assistance and extradition.

Prosecutor General of the Supreme People’s Procuracy Le Minh Tri at the conference

ASEAN member states should complete necessary procedures to bring the ASEAN Convention against Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children, into effect; further improve the efficiency of criminal judicial assistance by simplifying procedures and accepting assistance request online to save time, he said.

Participants shared view that trans-national crimes in the region, especially drug and human trafficking, is on the rise and complicating with sophisticated and dangerous tricks, which potentially hurt political stability, social safety and order, and human lives.

The effective fight against crimes needs close collaboration among countries, they said.

Concluding the event, both sides inked a joint statement to lay foundation for cooperation in the future, in which they agreed to jointly improve the capacity of procurators and prosecutors via training and exchanges, experience sharing in legal enforcement and measures to combat trans-national crimes. They also agreed to raise the efficiency of judicial assistance and extradition, and refine legal regulations to facilitate bilateral and multilateral cooperation, among others.

Source: VNA