The Royal Thai Police has successfully hosted the 4th ASEANAPOL Police Training Cooperation Meeting (APTCM) on 18th March 2014 at The Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel, Bangkok, Kingdom of Thailand. The meeting was attended by delegates from Brunei Darussalam, Kingdom of Cambodia, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Republic of the Philippines, Republic of Singapore, Kingdom of Thailand, Socialist Republic of Vietnam and ASEANAPOL Secretariat. The meeting was also attended by one of its dialogue partner namely Australian Federal Police and the Ministry of Interior of the Russian Federation as an observer.
Police General Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit, Deputy Commissioner General of Royal Thai Police, graciously delivered his opening speech expressing his warm welcome to all delegates and stressed that the gathering would further strengthen stronger cooperation among law enforcement agencies and training cooperation of ASEANAPOL member countries, which is necessary in combating transnational crime.
At the opening ceremony, Police Lieutenant General Suwira Songmetta, Commissioner of Police of Education Bureau, Royal Thai Police, who eventually became the Chairman of the said Meeting, delivered a welcome remark in which he reiterate that the good response and attendance of all delegates reflects a common desire to promote closer cooperation among ASEANAPOL member countries and its Dialogue Partners.
Delegates from all ASEANAPOL member countries presented their country report on their training cooperation, followed by a presentation by the ASEANAPOL Secretariat presenting its efforts in the area of training and capcity building and outlining its future plans in these areas. The Secretariat informed the meeting that during its working visit to China, the Minsitry of Public Security, Peoples Republic of China had indicated that they would provide training on Peace Keeping Mission tentatively in September 2014. Indeed they have sent their official invitation to the Secretariat recently.
The Ministry of Interior of the Russian Federation has kindly offered to conduct two training courses for ASEANAPOL member countries, the first being the course on Combating Human Trafficking from 16th to 26th December 2014 in the All Russian Advanced Training Institue of the Ministry of the Interior and the second one is scheduled for the first half of 2015 on Fingerprint Forensic Examinations and Survey of the Crime Scene.
Most importantly, with “Developing The Curriculum on the Needs of ASEAN Police,” as the theme, the Meeting has developed priorities on the training needs of ASEANAPOL. High on the list are Hi-Tech/Cyber Crime Investigations followed by second - Prevention and Investigation of Human Trafficking, third- Cross Border Crime Prevention and Coordination, fourth-Integration of ASEANAPOL Police academy Training Programme, fifth- Language and Culture Training and sixth- Pharmaceutical Crime Investigation for Investigators. The delegates further deliberated and agreed on courses of common interest for each of the training needs.
On the second day, all delegates were taken for a working visit to the Operation Centre of Royal Thai Police followed by a visit to the Royal Police Cadet Academy and ended with the visit to the Central Police Training Division. All delegates were impressed with the advance development and facilities available at the respective Operation Centre and Training Centre and Academy of the Royal Thai Police.
The Meeting agreed to submit the recommendations and outcome of the Meeting to the Head of Discussion Forum at the forthcoming ASEANAPOL Conference to be held in Manila, the Philippines, in May 2014. Accordingly, as the host and Chair of the 34th ASEANAPOL Conference, Philippines National Police will host the 5th ASEANAPOL Police Training Cooperation in the Philippines, the date and venue of which will be informed in due course.