Participants at the opening ceremony of the 39th ASEANAPOL Conference (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The 39th ASEAN Chiefs of Police Conference (ASEANAPOL) officially started in Hanoi on September 18 under the theme “Honoured by Partnership, Sustained by Unification.”
The event aims to step up multinational cooperation in the prevention and fight against emerging crimes in the region such as illegal purchase and sale of narcotics, terrorism, weapon smuggling, human trafficking, credit card fraud, high-tech crime, illegal wildlife trade, and maritime crime.
It is attended by nearly 300 delegates from ASEAN member countries and ASEANAPOL’s 10 dialogue partners, namely Australia, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russia, Turkey, ASEAN Secretariat, the International Criminal Police Organisation (InterPol), and the European Police Office (Europol).
The participants also include delegates from ASEANAPOL observers including Fiji, Timo-Leste, the National Crime Agency of the UK, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
In opening the conference, Vietnamese Minister of Public Security General To Lam said with a population of over 640 million and gross domestic product (GDP) of nearly 3 trillion USD, the ASEAN plays a crucial role in defence, security, and economic development strategies of many powerful countries in the world.
In addition to advantages, the Southeast Asian region is facing a lot of challenges, including security and social order matters. Therefore, the role of law enforcement agencies of ASEAN countries, including the police forces, is extremely important in preventing and combating crimes as well as ensuring national security and social order and safety, Lam said.
Founded 40 years ago, ASEANAPOL has seen remarkable developments with 10 member countries, 10 dialogue partners and six observers. With such a large number of member countries and partners, ASEANAPOL’s cooperation to fight transnational crimes has significantly contributed to the maintenance of national security and social order and safety in regional countries.
During the conference, participants will focus discussion on cooperation in preventing and combating drug crime, terrorism, illegal trade of weapons, human trafficking, piracy, financial-banking crime, and high-tech crime.
The event is running in Hanoi from September 17 to 19./.
VNA
