Pretoria (VNA)🎐 - A high-level delegation of the Ministry of Public Security(MoPS) led by its Deputy Minister Lieutenant General Le Quoc Hung paid a working trip to South Africa fromFebruary 24 to March 1 to promote bilateral cooperation between the twocountries, especially in the field of law protection and enforcement.

The delegation had workingsessions with Njabulo Nzuza, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs of South Africa; CasselMathale, Deputy Minister of Police; Nozuko Bam, Acting Director General of the StateSecurity Agency and leaders of the Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries andEnvironment. During the meetings, theVietnamese Deputy Minister and leaders of the South African agencies highlighted the growing traditional friendship between the two countries. With Vietnam's support, South Africa became the first Africancountry to establish a sectoral dialogue partnership with theAssociation of Southeast   Thetwo countrieshave effectively implemented the bilateral cooperation mechanism of theIntergovernmental Partnership Forum.            Regarding law protection and enforcement, Vietnam and South Africa are members of many multilateralinternational treaties on crime prevention and combat such as the "UnitedNations Convention Against Corruption", the "United Nations ConventionAgainst Transnational Organised Crime” and the “United Nations Convention AgainstIllicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances”. The twocountries' police forces are members of the International Criminal PoliceOrganisation (Interpol). The Vietnamese MoPS asked the South African Ministry of Police to negotiate and sign a cooperation agreementon preventing the trafficking, illegal transport and use of wild animals and their products, as well as exchange crime information through Interpol and bilateralcooperation channels, focusing on drug and environmental crimes, and hunting for wanted individuals. The two sides agreed tocontinue to coordinate with each other and  with other countries in the region to prevent,suppress and punish all types of crimes based on respecting the laws ofeach country and international law, focusing on early prevention of risks, deploying preventive measures and strengthening law enforcement collaboration. They also agreed tostrengthen cooperation and mutual support at international forums, of which thetwo countries are members. Vietnam called on South Africa to back the stanceof ASEAN and Vietnam on the East Sea issue and the peaceful resolution of disputes on the basis of international law, including the United Nations Conventionon the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS 1982); and to continue to support the Southeast Asian countryto successfully fulfill its role as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council and run for the next terms./.