“Fully aware of the challenges posed by drug trafficking, Vietnam gives high priority to drug prevention and control,” said a Vietnamese representative at the UN Security Council’s open debate on drug trafficking in New York on Dec. 8.

The First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, Pham Binh Minh, noted Vietnam has adopted the Law on Drug Prevention and Control, established the National Committee on Drug Prevention and Control, and endorsed the Master Plan and National Target Programme on Drug Prevention and Control until 2010.

He also said the country ratified the three UN conventions on drug control and expanded cooperation with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and regional countries, especially those in the Mekong-sub region. Vietnam has signed 8 bilateral agreements on drug control with Cambodia , Laos , China , Russia , Thailand , Myanmar , Hungary and the US .

The Vietnamese official expressed his concern about the complicated developments of drug crimes with more sophisticated means and advanced technology and underlined the need for international community’s joint efforts in the prevention and suppression of such dangerous crimes, with the UN entities, particularly the UNODC, playing the leading role in the fight.

“We hold that bilateral and multilateral cooperation play a critical role in the fight against drug trafficking,” the Deputy Foreign Minister said./.