Thanks to a long-term partnership between the Australian Federal Police, the Ministry of Public Security and RMIT University, 25 law enforcement officials from across Southeast Asia and South Asia have been selected to participate in the 35th Asia Region Law Enforcement Management Programme (ARLEMP) which began in HCM City on Monday.

Speaking at the ARLEMP opening ceremony, the Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner for Operation Sovereign Borders, Steve Lancaster, said: "Through collaborative action, police are able to apply maximum pressure in detecting and deterring people smugglers and human traffickers. By working together, we can more effectively target organised criminal networks and prevent crimes involving the irregular movement of people."

At the event, Major General Nguyen Phi Hung, deputy director general of the Police General Department on Crime Prevention and Suppression, said: "Vietnam joins the international community in condemning those people who are involved in smuggling and trafficking people. As a result, Viet Nam is pleased to partner with Australia to provide an opportunity for police to work together to stop these crimes."

Prof. Gael McDonald, President of RMIT Vietnam, also noted that the university was proud to continue to work with AFP and the Vietnamese government in "delivering this important transnational policing programme."

"We have witnessed that during the three weeks of intense cooperative learning, participants have raised their level of respect, mutual understanding, and their ability to collaborate across borders," he said.

ARLEMP graduates have gone on to be appointed to international roles as Police Liaison Officers with the United Nations and other leading international taskforce teams addressing transnational crime, and often credit ARLEMP for helping them to forge links and develop working relationships with other foreign law-enforcement agencies.