Canberra (VNA)♎ – A Vietnamese delegation led by Deputy Minister of PublicSecurity Lieut. Gen Le Quoc Hung visited and held working sessions withAustralian law enforcement agencies from October 22-28, as part of activities marking the50th anniversary of Vietnam-Australia diplomatic ties.

OnOctober 25, Hung held talks with Deputy Commissioner of the Australian FederalPolice (AFP) for International and Specialist Capabilities Lesa Gale, during which they vowed to workingclosely together and with other countries in the region to prevent, combat andsuppress various types of crimes while respecting the existing laws of eachcountry and international law. They emphasised the importance of early prevention of criminal threats, enhancing law enforcement cooperation andstrengthening bilateral collaboration in the fight against transnationalorganised, cyber, human and drug trafficking, and money laundering crimes. The Vietnamese delegation suggested that the AFP continue partneringwith Australian judicial agencies to facilitate the extradition of sentencedpersons from Australia to Vietnam as proposed by Vietnam, in line withinternational law and the laws of both countries. Discussingjoint work in digital transformation, the Vietnamese wished that Australia, a leadingnation with experience and modern digital transformation infrastructure, wouldhelp the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security (MoPS) build an informationcentre and a population database. Thehost expressedwillingness to assist the MoPS in sharing expertise and experience in buildinge-Government, data centres and databases for digital transformation; developingthe necessary skills to step up digital transformation through training courses,workshops and knowledge exchange initiatives. Both sides agreed to explore the buildingof a cooperation agreement to provide a legal framework for collaboration inthis field. The same day, the Vietnamese delegation visited theCanberra Data Centres and the National Situation Room (NSR) of Australia.

OnOctober 26, they held a working session with the Australian Department of HomeAffairs’ Security Intelligence Organisation, during which they pledged to tighten theirrelationships, enhance experience sharing, and improve the capability oftheir cybersecurity personnel.

💮 Hungproposed that both sides consider building a bilateral agreement on enhancing cooperation in cybersecurity and combating cyber and high-tech crimes, via the envoyin charge of important cyber and technology issues at the Australian Departmentof Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Working with the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission(ACIC), the Vietnamese official suggested that ACIC, through the AFP Office in Vietnam, shareinformation with the MoPS regarding the activities of criminals in bothcountries, especially in cyber and economic crimes, money laundering, humantrafficking, and other areas of ACIC’s strength./.