Vietnam Hosts ASEAN Conference on Judicial Assistance

The third meeting on the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters was launched in Vietnam’s Hanoi capital Sept 18 with the participation of police officials from ten ASEAN member nations, Vietnam News Agency reported.

 

Opening the event, Deputy Minister of Public Security, Sen. Lieut. Gen. Le The Tiem affirmed the closer and more effective cooperation among the bloc’s members in the fight against crimes is significant of the international community in general and for ASEAN countries in particular.

 

In the context of the rapid economic and science and technology development as well as the international economic integration, international terrorism, trans-national organized crimes, corruption, smuggling, drug-related crimes, cross-border human trafficking, counterfeit currency circulation, international frauds and weapon smuggling are likely to be more complex and go beyond national borders to become a regional and global issue, Tiem told the conference.

 

Participants at the meeting, which concludes today, agreed it was necessary to expand the legal assistance scale of the Treaty.

 

The ASEAN Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, the first international accord in the field between Southeast Asian countries, has so far been ratified by six ASEAN member countries, namely Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. (Vietnam Law, VNS)