Rome, the national law enforcement component as a fundamental asset in supporting Italy's foreign policy in the ASEAN area

Rome, the Chief of Police - Director General of Public Security, Prefect Lamberto Giannini and the Executive Director of the South-East Asian Police Association ASEANAPOL Jim Wee Aik Boon, signed a letter of intent today at the Office for Coordination and the Police Force Planning of the Department of Public Safety in the prestigious Cimarra palace.

The signing took place in the presence of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ambassador Ettore Francesco SEQUI, demonstrating the synergy that, starting from the Italian partnership with ASEAN, has developed between the Department of Public Security and the Farnesina. In his speech, the Secretary General underlined the fundamental value of the national law enforcement component, which constitutes an important segment in support of the country's foreign policy and is an expression of the capacity of the Italian system.

The Chief of Police highlighted how cooperation in the security field is already based on positive relations and exchanges at a bilateral and multilateral level and over the years various collaborative activities have been carried out between the European Union, the Member States and the ASEAN countries . Just think of the ASEAN-EU Action Plan 2018-2022 Significant relations also exist between the police forces of the ASEAN member countries and the Italian police forces, especially with those states with which bilateral agreements have been signed.

A very high moment of cooperation occurred with the Conference of Ambassadors of the ten ASEAN countries, organized in Rome in September last year, just 15 days after the designation of Italy as an ASEAN development partner. The commitment of the Department of Public Security did not take long to manifest itself with the organization of training activities on the topics of cyber-crime and digital investigation reserved for executives/managers of ASEAN countries starting from January this year at the School of high level training for prevention and organized crime in Caserta.

Today's signing represents a further step towards the creation of increasingly effective strategies and activities between the Italian police forces and those of the 10 countries in the ASEAN area with a view to progress, stability and peace.

The agreement will make it possible to address old and new challenges in a climate of reciprocity: environmental problems and their repercussions on security, the correct management of migratory flows, the protection of human rights, cyber-security and other serious crime phenomena which represent intervention priorities in terms of policies to be developed and action plans to be developed to prevent and contain their effects.

The "pilot path" will be exciting and will develop first of all through the exchange of experiences, understanding and mutual knowledge. In this sense, the Chief of Police - Director General of Public Security has announced that next autumn, in agreement with the MAECI and compatibly with the pandemic situation, the high-level seminar intended for the Police Chiefs of the countries will be held in Rome ASEAN, organized by the International Relations Service "in an itinerant manner that will allow us to get to know the most important structures of the Department and of the individual Italian police forces and to discuss serious threats, current and future, on which it will be necessary to intensify police cooperation"