As a two-day ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) summit on terrorism and organised crime held in Siem Reap closed yesterday, Interior Ministry counter-terrorism director General Em Sam An highlighted the growing toll transnational crime was exacting upon ASEAN members.

“In recent years, the loss of life and human rights abuses against those attacked throughout the region by transnational crime has increased,” Sam An, who led Cambodia’s delegation to the summit, said in televised remarks.

“To effectively protect the ASEAN people, [our leaders have] urged for the creation of legal instruments to cover all eight areas of transnational crime.”

He also lamented a lack of money and technical expertise to effectively combat these threats in “many ASEAN member states”.

The ARF comprises ASEAN’s 10 core member states, plus Australia, Canada, China, EU, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia, US, Pakistan, Timor-Leste, Bangladesh, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, Mongolia and Sri Lanka.

With the exception of the final four, all attended yesterday.