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 the Vietnam News Agency 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.

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./. VNA