Vietnam pledges legal assistance to ASEAN members

Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam has committed to seriously meeting the requests for legal assistance from ASEAN member countries in line with the bloc's treaty on this issue and in accordance with its law.

The commitment was made at the senior ASEAN officials' third meeting on the
Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, which took place in
Hanoi on September 18-19.

During the meeting, participants discussed measures to address difficulties
in the implementation of the treaty in order to improve the efficiency of
legal assistance in criminal matters among ASEAN member countries.

Six ASEAN member nations - Brunei , Indonesia , Laos , Malaysia ,
Singapore and Vietnam - have ratified the treaty and over the course of
the meeting, representatives from these nations shared their experiences in
the enforcement of the treaty in their respective countries.

Vietnam 's initiative to set up a standing committee of the Treaty's
Secretariat, which will provide consultancy and consider requests for legal
assistance, was praised by the other ASEAN members.

The third meeting was attended by senior officials and representatives from
embassies of ASEAN countries, the Treaty's Secretariat and 60 delegates from
a range of associated Vietnamese ministries and agencies. The fourth
meeting will take place in Brunei in 2009.

The other member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) are Cambodia , Thailand , Myanmar and the Philippines.-Enditem