The 6th China-ASEAN Prosecutors-General Conference wrapped up in Hanoi on Nov. 25 after issuing a joint statement affirming the need to step up cooperation in the fight against transnational organised crime.

As many as 190 delegates, including prosecutors from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, plus representatives from the embassies of several ASEAN member countries along with officials from a number of Vietnamese State agencies attended the two-day event.

Procurator General of Vietnam’s Supreme People’s Procuracy Tran Quoc Vuong said at the closing ceremony that the delegates focused their discussions on further promoting judicial support amongst the procuracies of ASEAN member nations and China and came to decisions on a wide range of concrete measures.

In the joint statement, the prosecutors emphasised the necessity to work together closely to prevent and combat terrorism, human trafficking, illegal drugs, cross-border smuggling, corruption, money laundering, and hi-tech transnational crimes.

The conference agreed to improve penal laws and set up a mechanism to facilitate judicial assistance and increase the exchange of visits by high-level procurators between ASEAN nations and China.

They also held that cooperation should be intensified in personnel training and the sharing of information and experience in the field.

Vietnam became a member of the UN convention on drugs control in 1997 and joined the UN convention on crime prevention and the fight against transnational organised crime in 2000. The country’s police forces are already an integral part of INTERPOL and ASEANPOL.

In June 2009, the country ratified the UN convention on corruption, paving the way for its official participation in the global legal framework for preventing and combating corruption, along with 140 other countries from around the world.

The Vietnamese National Assembly has recently introduced a law on judicial support and other important legislations relating to judicial activities to lay a solid foundation for the nation to fight crime and also so that judicial agencies can strengthen links with partners in the fight against transnational organised crime./.