Nhan Dan Online – The sixth ASEAN-China Prosecutors General Conference opened in Hanoi on November 24, with the theme of ‘Strengthening co-operation in mutual legal assistance in criminal matters for effectively transnational organised crime’.

President Nguyen Minh Triet attended the opening session.

Making the opening speech, Tran Quoc Vuong, Head of Vietnam's Supreme People's Procuracy and chairman of the conference said transnational organised crime situation has become more complex in recent years in the region.

He stressed: “Strengthening the co-operation among countries to prevent and combat transnational organised crimes is important to the ASEAN community in particular and the international community in general”.

Mr. Vuong expressed his hope that delegates to the conference will have in-depth discussions to put forth solutions and action plans to improve the co-operation mechanism among procuratorial agencies of the ASEAN and China in preventing and fighting against transnational organised crimes.

Addressing the opening session, President Nguyen Minh Triet said the fine relationship between ASEAN and China has created favourable conditions for boosting co-operation in science, education, labour, environmental protection, law and the fight against transnational organised crime.

“Vietnam appreciates the effective co-operation between judicial agencies of ASEAN and China, including the initiative to host the ASEAN-China Prosecutors General Conference”, he emphasised.

He called on ASEAN and Chinese prosecution agencies to set up a reliable mechanism in providing and receiving information on transnational organised crime between the region’s countries. He also suggested forming a long-term vision on how to deal with the operations of transnational organised crime syndicates, by drawing up joint initiatives, to be taken within the framework of international law and bilateral and multilateral agreements.

He said that Vietnam has been carrying out judicial reform and has achieved significant results. Criminal and civil laws and proceedings have been developed to build a rule-of-law State. The organisation and operation of Vietnamese judicial agencies have been renewed, the professional skills of judicial staff have been improved and international co-operation in the field has been expanded.

The Vietnam National Assembly has recently promulgated the Law on Legal Aid and a number of other important laws relating to judicial activities, laying a firm foundation for combating crime and expanding international co-operation while respecting the principles of national independence and sovereignty and non-intervention in each other’s internal affairs

At the conference, Cao Jianming, Prosecutor General of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate of the People’s Republic of China made four suggestions with the aim of boosting co-operation between ASEAN and China in combating transnational organised crime: First, continue regular dialogues and exchange visits between top officials from procuratorial organs of all countries; Second, actively perfect the co-operative mechanism and reinforce joint force; Third, deepen international co-operation on anti-corruption and anti-money laundering, and promote establishment of healthy and orderly local international financial system; Fourth, deepen judicial co-operation in the non-traditional safety field.

The conference drew the participation of nearly 200 prosecutors from ten member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China.

The conference will run through November 25.

By Truong Son