Asia faces severest security situations

The 190-member international police organisation, however, said it was ready to work with police officers in Asia to contribute to Asian security, but called for improvement in law enforcement cooperation and security governance reforms. Interpol President Meng Hongwei said security situation in Asia was “one of the severest” in the world, “with incessant regional turbulence and conflicts impacting peace and stability.” 

“Spreading international terrorism, increasing organised crimes, rampant emerging crimes and cybercrimes are posing unprecedented challenges for police,” Hongwei said at the 23rd Interpol Asian Regional Conference that began here on Wednesday. 

The three-day meet themed, ‘Law Enforcement Cooperation in Asia: current and future challenges’, brought together delegates, including heads of security agencies and government officials, from 33 countries of the region to discuss issues of human and drugs trafficking, terrorism and cybercrimes. Inaugurating the event, Nepalese Prime Minister Prachanda said “no single country can rely solely upon its own capabilities” to address transnational and organised crimes. 

“The adverse effects of such crimes and criminalities cannot be ignored because crime knows no boundary, and security can no longer be labelled as the agenda of a single country,” he said adding, “thus, cooperation and multilateralism are indispensable in dealing crimes.” He stressed on boosting the national security to cope with “new threats and challenges” in the context of development in information and communication technology.