Three AMMTC Declarations To Be Brought To 47th ASEAN Summit

MELAKA, Sept 11 (Bernama) -- The 19th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime (AMMTC) and related meetings today agreed to present three ASEAN Leaders’ Declarations, endorsed yesterday, at the 47th ASEAN Summit in October.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said one of the declarations, led by Malaysia, focuses on combating money laundering to strengthen regional financial integrity.

He said another, proposed by Vietnam, seeks to enhance cooperation in locating and arresting criminal fugitives, as perpetrators of transnational crimes are sometimes found in ASEAN countries.

“So, if possible, we want to enhance cooperation to locate, to arrest, to deport and so on,” he told a press conference here today.

The third, initiated by Indonesia, leverages sports as a tool to build societal resilience against extremism.

In addition, Saifuddin Nasution said AMMTC agreed to drop two issues from the priority list for the next session, namely maritime piracy and international economic crime.

Instead, the focus will shift to cybercrime, particularly online scams, which continue to cause significant losses each year.

“Piracy still exists. For example, in eastern Sabah, kidnap-for-ransom was once quite common, but since January 2020, no such incidents have been detected.

“So, ASEAN countries believe that, in terms of priorities, there are valid grounds to place piracy further down the list and give greater focus to online scams,” he said.

-- BERNAMA