Cambodia and Vietnam have reached an agreement to cooperate further on the suppression of drug crimes along the border.

The agreement was made at the 3rd Cambodia-Vietnam Bilateral Meeting on Drug Control Cooperation, held on January 5 with the participation of Kheng Sarath, director of the National Police’s Anti-Drug Department.

Sarath said the two sides agreed to improve the quality of information exchange via a hotline and through the Border Liaison Office (BLO), which was specially formed to provide information related to major drug trafficking schemes and to facilitate the arrest of targets hiding in the territory of either country.

"The two sides agreed to increase cooperation in the implementation of professional work on the prevention and suppression of drug offences, in which the two sides focused on practical research along the main basic border lines related to drugs on the Cambodian-Vietnamese border," he said.

Sarath said the two sides would continue to closely monitor all illegal activities related to drugs in order to prevent, investigate and crack down on all activities related to the cultivation of plants containing drugs and the production of illegal drugs in laboratories or synthetic drugs.

"We will continue to hold regular rotating meetings in accordance with the existing mechanisms between the provincial-district, border and BLO officials and hold extraordinary meetings at each level to exchange information and documents on drug crime activities," he said.

The two countries also agreed to support and enhance the capacity of officials in the field of drug crime suppression and control as well as to assign delegations to study and exchange experiences.

In addition, the two sides agreed to continue to hold annual rotating meetings to evaluate the results of cooperation and resolve all remaining issues in the prevention and suppression of drug crimes in the two countries. They agreed that the fourth meeting in 2024 will be held in Vietnam.