Cambodia's Ministry of Interior and China’s Ministry of Public Security have agreed to continue their cooperation on preventing transnational crimes such as illegal online gambling operations and drug trafficking.
The extension of their agreement came after the two sides noted the significant achievements by law enforcement achieved through their efforts in both nations over the past two years.
The agreement was first discussed at a meeting between interior minister Sar Kheng and China’s public security minister Zhao Kezhi via video conference on September 28, which led to their signatures being affixed to an action plan extending law enforcement cooperation between their ministries for another year.
The two ministries were following through on initiatives suggested by Prime Minister Hun Sen and Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to the press statement.
“Both sides have agreed to continue promoting law enforcement cooperation to prevent transnational crimes of all kinds, especially organised crimes, online gambling, online money extortion and drug trafficking,” it said.
Both sides also agreed to provide support to each other when holding international events to ensure that they will go as smoothly as planned, including events related to Cambodia holding the chair of ASEAN next year, the 2022 Winter Olympics in China, the SEA Games in Cambodia in 2023 and other international events that may take place in either country.
The two ministers also praised the “excellent” relations between the leaders of the two countries and the comprehensive strategic partnership for development that has been implemented in recent years.
Interior ministry spokesman Phat Sophanit said the two sides were committed to strengthening their cooperation in the fight again transnational crimes by focusing more on sometimes overlooked categories of crime such as online fraud, human smuggling and trafficking, among others.
“There are some portions of the plan that we were not able to put into effect for 2020-21 due to the Covid-19 pandemic such as exchange visits for enforcement officers and conferences for our law enforcement and legal professionals or friendly activities to promote ties like sporting events or work retreats.
“But hopefully with the new extension signed we’ll be able to do all of the things we missed out on earlier,” he said.
