An official from Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS) assumed the position of Director for Plans and Programmes at the ASEAN National Police (ASEANAPOL) Secretariat on January 11, VNA reported.

Sen. Lt. Col. Nguyen Huu Ngoc (R) takes over the postition of Director for Plans and Programmes at the ASEANAPOL Secretariat on January 11. Photo: VNA

Sen. Lt. Col. Nguyen Huu Ngoc, deputy division head at the Office of the MPS’s Investigation Police Agency, took over the post at a ceremony held at the ASEANAPOL Secretariat’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

This is the first time a police officer of Vietnam has undertaken an important position in international and regional police organisations.

Ngoc said that to implement the Party and State’s policy on expanding international cooperation in crime prevention and control, over the past years, the Government assigned the MPS to deploy personnel to the General Secretariat of the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTEPOL), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and ASEANAPOL Secretariat.

The candidacy for key leadership positions of the ASEANAPOL Secretariat reflects the Vietnamese police force’s strong determination and commitment to boost international cooperation in trans-national crime fight.

He noted by directly managing activities of the ASEANAPOL Secretariat, he can gain necessary experience to prepare for Vietnam to take over the Executive Director position in 2028; help enhance the country’s cooperation with law enforcement forces of regional partners to promote trans-national crime fight; make proposals on cooperation between the Vietnamese police and member countries, dialogue partners, and observers of ASEANAPOL; and help make use of assistance in terms of science, technology, and equipment for the crime combat.

Ngoc told VNA that he will make all-out efforts to contribute to cooperation among police forces of ASEAN countries to safeguard regional safety and peace, and to the improvement of the Vietnamese police’s role in the region and the world at large.

The opening ceremony of the 40th ASEANAPOL Conference hosted by Cambodia. Source: MPS

Founded in 1981, ASEANAPOL comprises police forces of the 10 member countries, namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its Secretariat officially opened on January 1, 2010.

The ASEANAPOL is led by the Executive Director who has a two-year term. Meanwhile, the Director for Police Services and the Director of Plans and Programmes have a tenure of two - three years.

In March 2022, the Vietnamese delegation attended 40th ASEANAPOL Conference was led by Lieutenant General Do Van Hoanh, Chief of the Office of Investigation Police Agency (OIPA) under the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security.

Heads of the ASEAN police delegations signed the Conference's Joint Statement, in which ASEANAPOL member states pledged to strengthen professional coordination and joint criminal investigation in an effort to fight against crimes of all kinds with support from responsible agencies in accordance with the laws of each country.

Delegates also committed to promote their coordination and followed directions of the ASEANAPOL Secretariat in the fight against crimes, especially drug crime, terrorism, arms trafficking, trafficking in persons, illegal wildlife trade, maritime frauds, economic crime, banking and credit scams, hi-tech crime, passport counterfeiting, and transnational fraud.

At the event, ASEANAPOL also agreed to accept the request of four countries (Bangladesh Police, Italian Police Department, Ministry of Interior, United Arab Emirates and Argentine Federal Police) as observers, and established the partnership with two organizations (the Association of Police Training Institutions in Asia and the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Wildlife Asia Fund).

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