Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos join hands to combat drugs

HCM City (VNA) – The 15th ministerial meeting between Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos on drugs prevention and combat is taking place in Ho Chi Minh City on December 9-10.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, Chairman of the National Committee for HIV/AIDS, Drugs and Prostitution Prevention and Control, said the Vietnamese Government hopes to closely work with Cambodia and Laos in the fight against drugs, thus ensuring healthy and sustainable development in the respective nations.

The trilateral collaboration has become more important than ever given the increasingly complicated developments in the region and beyond, he said, adding that the meeting creates an opportunity for the three countries to discuss measures to drive the drug crime back.

Implementing the tripartite agreement on cross-border drugs prevention, the three countries have jointly held periodic meetings to exchange information and increase training cooperation, while conducting joint patrols along the shared borderlines to control drug-related crime.

They had also shared one another hundreds of pieces of information on drug-related crime, which have helped detect 1,813 cases in 19 Vietnamese provinces bordering with Cambodia and Laos since last December.

The competent agencies have worked together to bust 21 drug trafficking rings and eradicate 12 complicated drug hot-beds. They also seized over 455 kg of heroin, 4,000 kg of dried cannabis leaves, and 220,000 synthetic pills.

Participants suggested the three countries step up cooperation in the field via increasing educational activities to persuade local residents not to plant opium trees, use or trade drugs, and expanding programmes on building drug-free border areas.-VNA