The 1st Thailand-Vietnam Meeting on Drugs Control, Ho Chi Minh City, September 13, 2004

An agreement on the hotline was reached on Monday at the first Viet Nam-Thailand Bilateral Meeting on Drug Control Co-operation held in Ho Chi Minh City.

"Both our countries have tried everything and put all our efforts towards eliminating such drugs from our countries and the world,” said General Chidchai Vanasatidya, secretary-general of the Thai Narcotics Control Board and deputy commissioner general of the Royal Thai Police.

Lieutenant General Nguyen Viet Thanh, deputy general commissioner of the Viet Nam Police, said drug abuse was a global problem.

"The great profits earned from the drug trade have made the fight against drugs more difficult and complicated,” said Lt. Gen Thanh.

The parliaments of both countries also plan to draft laws on combating both drug trafficking and money laundering. An agreement on extraditing those arrested on drug charges will be drawn up, officials said.

Vietnamese officials said domestic criminals were in close contact with regional smuggling rings.

In 2003, more than 3,800 cases of drug trafficking and use were detected in Ho Chi Minh City and Ha Noi, according to the Vietnamese delegation.

Some 6,250 drug offenders were arrested, and more than 20 kg of heroin, 5,600 tablets of synthetic drugs, and 100,000 tablets and ampoules of addictive pharmaceutical substances were seized in the two cities, police said.

In the first eight months of 2004, the number of drug arrests fell by 18 per cent, compared with the same period last year.

“However, the drug situation is still complicated, especially at border areas and hot spots like Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City;" said Vietnamese officials.

Opium poppy cultivation in Thailand has gradually declined, due to the effective implementation of a crop control programme, Thai officials said.

Thailand, however, remains a major transit country for heroin traffickers from the two other Golden Triangle nations, Myanmar and Laos.

China, Viet Nam and Cambodia as well as other Asian countries are markets for Golden Triangle-produced heroin.

The meeting on Monday was held by Viet Nam's National Committee for AIDS, Drugs and Prostitution Control in collaboration with the Narcotics Control Board of Thailand.

Source: Viet Nam News, Volume XIV, Number 4696, September 14, 2004.