Workshop on Formulation of the 5-Year Master Plan (2019-2023) under the Safe Mekong Operation Project among 6 Countries
News / View / ASEAN Information
Monday 16th of April 2018
Workshop on Formulation of the 5-Year Master Plan (2019-2023) under the Safe Mekong Operation Project among 6 Countries
Workshop on Formulation of the 5-Year Master Plan (2019-2023) under the Safe Mekong Operation Project among 6 Countries (Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam) on 9-10 April 2018 at the Duang Tawan Hotel, Chiang Mai
On 9-10 April 2018, Thailand by Office of the Narcotics Control Board and Safe Mekong Coordination Centre (SMCC Chiang Mai) organized the Workshop on Formulation of the 5- Year Master Plan (2019-2023) under the Safe Mekong Operation Project among 6 countries (Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam) in Chiang Mai with the objective to draw the guidelines for the formulation of the Master Plan under the Safe Mekong Operation focussing on the participation of 6 member countries since Thailand was the host of SMCC from 15 November 2017 to 15 March 2018 and the present the 3- Year Golden Triangle Operation Plan under the framework of the Safe Mekong Operation would end in 2018. According to previous senior officials meeting of the Safe Mekong Operation in January 2018, the six member countries reviewed the Operation implementation and agreed to continue to implement the long term of the Safe Mekong Operation with the 3-5-year plan.
The workshop was chaired by Mr. Chlaisin Bodhichareon, Deputy Secretary-General of the Narcotics Control Board as a head of Thai Delegation and was attended by senior officials of other 5 member countries, namely Cambodia led by Pol.Lt.Gen. Neak Yuthea, Deputy Secretary-General of NACD; China led by Mr. Wang Hongru, Director of Intelligence Division of NNCC; Lao PDR led by Mr. Phoutsavath Sounthala, Deputy Head of the Permanent Secretary LCDC; Myanmar led by Pol.Col. Tin Aung, Head of Admin Department of CCDAC; Viet Nam led by Pol.Lt.Col. Ngo Thanh Binh, Deputy Director of Department of Drugs Crime Investigation Police, MPS.
The workshop reviewed the past implementation of the Safe Mekong Operation and discussed the obstacles as well as difficulties facing the project implementation. The participating countries viewed that in order to achieve the goals of the Plan, more intensive cooperation of six member countries was vital to intercept illicit precursor chemicals smuggling and to interdict the drugs in the production sites not to be smuggled out to drug epidemic areas. The six member countries agreed to have a Master Plan that covered the period of 4 years starting from 2019 to 2022. Six member countries agreed to the draft guidelines, process and timeline for the formulation of a 4-Year Master Plan under the Safe Mekong Operation Project. Some salient points of the workshop are as follows:
1. The new 4-year plan will be entitled the Safe Mekong Drug Control Joint Operation Plan 2019-2022 among 6 Countries: Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam.
2. Six member countries jointly reviewed the 3-year plan implementation, analyzed drugs and precursor chemical situation as well as discussed the difficulties and obstacles facing the Member States during the project implementation in six sub-plans which comprised the interception and control of illicit precursor chemicals, the interdiction of illicit drug trafficking along Mekong River and nearby key areas, the interdiction of illicit drug trafficking by land routes, the suppression of major drug producers and traffickers, the support and area development, the plan management. During the past 2 years, the achievement was significant such as the increase in drugs and precursor chemicals seizure, comprehensive cooperation in drug law enforcement, exchanging of intelligence and information on illicit drug trafficking groups, the monitoring of drug fugitives, etc.
3. The member countries agreed to the draft guidelines for the formulation of the new 4-year plan and the SMCC of each member country would play the key role in the plan formulation and elevate the cooperation for the plan implementation with more intensive operation.
4. The member countries agreed to the procedure of the plan formulation as well as its timeline and would jointly draft the plan within May 2018 and jointly review the draft plan in July 2018 before submitting to the policy level of six member countries for further approval in August 2018.
5. China proposed to be the next host of the SMCC during 7 May - 31 July 2018 at the SMCC Jing Hong, Xishuangbanna. The official invitation would be sent to member countries to send their officers to station at the SMCC Jing Hong.
Thailand also proposed to make use of the open information collected by the SMCC such as major drug cases which are not under the investigation, statistics of drug seizures made by the Safe Mekong Operation in analyzing drug situation for ASEAN Drug Monitoring Report and to publicize on the ASEAN-NARCO website.
The implementation of the Safe Mekong Operation is associated with the ASEAN Cooperation Plan to Tackle Illicit Drug Production and Trafficking in the Golden Triangle (2017-2019) that ASEAN Member States have the common target in solving the illicit drug production and trafficking in the Golden Triangle which have long affected ASeAN Member States, particularly, ASEAN Member States in Mekong Sub-region. Five ASEAN Member States are member countries of the Safe Mekong Operation, namely, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam. In drafting the said ASEAN Cooperation Plan, the main reference was drawn from the implementation of the Safe Mekong Operation. It is the significant project which pooled the joint efforts, cooperation and resources of ASEAN Member States together with China as a key player in Greater Mekong Sub-region.
