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DPA: ASEAN centre to combat crime



ASEAN centre to combat crime

YANGON, June 24 (DPA) ? South-East Asian Ministers meeting in Yangon
(Rangoon) yesterday agreed to set up a centre for combating international
crime and launched a feasibility study on the new project, according to
their joint communiqué.

Ministers and officials of the 10-nation Association of South-East Asian
Nations (ASEAN) held discussions from Monday to Wednesday on adopting a
regional approach in tackling transnational crimes such as drug
trafficking, prostitution and money laundering
 .

The regional effort was initiated two years ago in the Philippines, and the
next such ministerial meeting will be held in Singapore in 2001.

The group has already launched an Aseanapol, or a collective database on
criminals and criminal activities within South-East Asia, and is now
studying the establishment of an ASEAN centre for combating transnational
crime (ACTC).

Among other proposals the group is looking into is inking extradition
treaties within all ASEAN members which now include Brunei, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam, attending ministers 
told a press conference in Yangon.