VN hopes for Bali Process’ stronger engagement in regional cooperation

Da Nang (VNA) – The Bali Process should promote its role in regional and global cooperation mechanisms, said Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister To Anh Dung at the 14th meeting of the Bali Process Ad Hoc Group (AHG) Senior Officials in central Da Nang city on July 23.

The 14th Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime (Bali Process) AHG Senior Officials gathered more than 100 delegates from 25 countries and territories.

Dung said that along with preventing illegal migration and human trafficking, the process should promote safe and legal migration as well as future cooperation.

This is suitable to the process’s commitments in strengthening its engagement in regional and multilateral cooperation mechanisms such as the ASEAN and the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), he said.

Dung noted that some cooperation initiatives of the process, especially the introduction of the Government and Business Forum in 2017, were applauded in the GFMD 2019 report delivered at the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York from July 11-15.

This has contributed to realising goals of the UN 2030 Agenda on sustainable development, he added.

The Bali Process was first held by Australia and Indonesia in 2002. The event, co-chaired by Indonesia and Australia, has 49 members, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), as well as a number of observer countries and international agencies.

It also includes the Ad Hoc Group, bringing together most-affected member countries and relevant international organisations, to address people smuggling, trafficking in persons and irregular migration issues in the region.

As one of the first countries joining the process’s AHG, Vietnam has been involved in working groups in human trafficking prevention.

The hosting of the 14th meeting of the Bali Process AHG Senior Officials is a chance for the country to show its efforts as an active member of the process.-VNA