Joint Declaration of the 10th ASEAN-China Prosecutors-General Conference　

The 10th ASEAN-China Prosecutors-General Conference was held in Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic on 09 November 2016. H.E. Khamsane Souvong, Prosecutor General of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, H.E. Datin Seri Paduka Hajah Hayati binti POKSDSP Hj. Mohd. Salleh, Attorney General and Public Prosecutor of Brunei Darussalam, H.E. Chea Leang, Prosecutor General of the Kingdom of Cambodia, H.E. HM Prasetyo, Attorney General of the Republic of Indonesia, H.E. Datin Paduka Zauyah Be binti T. Loth Khan, Solicitor General II of Malaysia, H.E. Tun Tun Oo, Attorney General of the Union, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, H.E. SEVERINO H. GAÑA, JR., Senior Deputy State Prosecutor of the Republic of the Philippines, H.E. Tan Siong Thye, Deputy Attorney General of the Republic of Singapore, H.E. Khemchai Chutiwongse, Deputy Attorney General of the Kingdom of Thailand, H.E. Le Minh Tri, Prosecutor General of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and H.E. Cao Jianming, Prosecutor General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate of the People's Republic of China, attended the Conference.

The Conference was successfully held in a warm and friendly atmosphere under the theme "Strengthening Cooperation to Effectively Combat Transnational Crime".

The Conference welcomed the establishment of the ASEAN Community on 31 December 2015 and the successful outcomes of the 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits and Related Summits under Lao PDR's ASEAN Chairmanship in 2016 with the theme "Turning Vision into Reality for a Dynamic ASEAN Community". The Conference welcomed the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations and the significant progress of ASEAN-China cooperation, including in the area of non-traditional security issues such as combating terrorism, illicit drug trafficking, trafficking in persons, and cybercrime, as well as law enforcement capacity building. The Conference welcomed ASEAN's efforts in dealing with transnational crime including illicit drug trafficking and human trafficking through the implementation of the ASEAN Political-Security Community Blueprint 2025, the ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (ACTIP) and the ASEAN Leaders' Declaration on Drug-Free ASEAN 2015.

The Conference emphasized the important role played by the ASEAN-China Prosecutors-General Conference since its inception in 2004 in combating transnational crime, protecting social welfare and upholding national stability, thus contributing to promoting ASEAN-China relations as well as regional and international peace, stability and prosperity.

The Conference recognized that drug and human trafficking remain a security concern that poses a threat to the social fabric of nations, and also presents direct and indirect economic costs to the governments. The Conference further acknowledged that illicit drug trafficking and human trafficking, which are linked to other transnational crimes could escalate to such a level where perpetrators or criminals can pose serious political and security threats to the region. The Conference had a candid discussion on how to strengthen coordination and cooperation to address and prevent transnational crime and shared best practices and successful experiences in combating transnational organised crimes and addressing difficulties and obstacles in the cooperation.

The Prosecutors-General of ASEAN Member States and China reaffirmed their strong commitment to working closely together to address illicit drug trafficking and human trafficking and other transnational organised crimes at both national and regional levels.

To this end, the Prosecutors-General declare that:

1. The Prosecutors-General remain committed to enhancing cooperation to bring transnational offenders or criminals to be punished under the laws. on the basis of the principles of equality, mutual trust and mutual respect for national sovereignty, jurisdiction, and the treaties ratified by their respective countries and domestic laws.

2. The Prosecutors-General, subject to the domestic laws of their countries, endeavour to faithfully and vigorously fulfill the prosecutorial duties under their national laws and the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and other multilateral and bilateral treaties to which their respective countries are parties in relation to the fight against transnational crime, in particular drugs and human trafficking, and formulate or improve laws relating to the fight against transnational crime and enhance bilateral and multilateral judicial cooperation mechanisms as well as develop smooth and effective ways in efficiently facilitating the implementation of mutual legal assistance and extradition.

3. The Prosecutors-General, subject to the domestic laws of their countries, agree to further enhance the exchange of information in relation to transnational crime and update each other in a timely manner on the monitored, tracked and grasped data and intelligence about the movements of transnational offenders or criminals.

4. The Prosecutors-General agree to strengthen cooperation on capacity building of the prosecutors, including through the exchange of prosecutors, training of prosecutors, and sharing of experience and expertise in implementing and enforcing laws and measures in combating illicit drug trafficking and human trafficking in order to strengthen the capacity of prosecutors in handling transnational crimes.

5. The Prosecutors-General of ASEAN Member States welcome the initiative and offer of the Supreme People's Procuratorate of the People's Republic of China to establish the official website of the ASEAN-China Prosecutors-General Conference and the ASEAN-China Prosecutors Training Base.

6. The Prosecutors-General agree to make further efforts to contribute to the implementation of the Joint Statement of the 19th ASEAN China Summit and the Plan of Action to Implement the Joint Declaration on ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity (2016-2020) by focusing on non-traditional security challenges in order to effectively combat transnational crime.

7. For the purpose of strengthening the communication and cooperation between the Offices of the Prosecutors-General of ASEAN Member States and the Supreme People's Procuratorate of the People's Republic of China, the Prosecutors-General agree to establish the contact points of the Offices of the Prosecutors-General of ASEAN Member States and the Supreme People's Procuratorate of the People's Republic of China by assigning their respective international cooperation departments to be the focal points so as to ensure the effective cooperation on prosecutorial works and timely coordination in the fight against transnational crimes.

Signed in Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic on 09 November 2016 in English version only.