Cambodia, China's Yunnan meet on anti-drug co-op

Anti-drug officials from Cambodia and China's southwestern province of Yunnan met in Phnom Penh on Monday to initiate cooperation in combating drug trafficking by air, according to a press release by Cambodia's National Authority for Combating Drugs (NACD).

"It aims at preventing drug trafficking by air between Cambodia and China's Yunnan province," the press release said after a meeting between You Sunlong, NACD secretary general, and Hu Shuiwang, deputy director of Yunnan Provincial Public Security Bureau.

Suon Khoeun, deputy chief of NACD administration department, told reporters that from early 2013, there will be direct flights between Yunnan's capital of Kunming and Cambodia's Siem Reap City so that the cooperation was very important for both sides to prevent and crack down on drug trafficking.

You Sunlong highly spoke of good cooperation between Cambodian and Chinese authorities in preventing and cracking down on cross- border drug offences and other crimes.

He also expressed thanks to Yunnan province in particular for providing equipment and technical assistance to NACD and supporting capacity building for Cambodian anti-drug officials.

Meanwhile, Hu Shuiwang hailed close ties between China and Cambodia and agreed that the two countries had good cooperation in fighting against all forms of crimes.

"I hope that our cooperation in combating drug trafficking will be further strengthened in order to ensure security and social order," he said.