HÀ NỘI – Việt Nam and the United States have launched a new partnership to combat wildlife trafficking on the occasion of the current Việt Nam visit by President Barack Obama.

The US-Vietnam Partnership to Combat Wildlife Trafficking states that the United States and Việt Nam recognised that the illegal trade in and illegal consumption of wildlife and wildlife products are threatening the world’s irreplaceable biodiversity and adversely impacting communities and economies around the globe.

Both countries acknowledged in the document that wildlife trafficking is a trans-national criminal enterprise that generates billions of dollars of illicit revenue annually, threatens national security, undermines the rule of law, and facilitates the spread of emerging infectious diseases.

Under this partnership, Việt Nam and the United States are committed to strengthening their respective and collective efforts to combat wildlife trafficking and to improving collaboration in four strategic areas: reduce consumer demand for and consumption of illegal wildlife and wildlife products, strengthen wildlife law enforcement and prosecution, improve and implement the legal frameworks for wildlife crime, and bolster international cooperation.

The two countries plan to cooperate actively through joint training, technical exchanges, information sharing, and public education and demand reduction campaigns.

Việt Nam highlighted its commitment to implement effectively the new wildlife crime provisions in its recently revised Penal Code. Both sides agreed to consider measures to reduce the domestic sale and commercial breeding of endangered species of wild fauna and reduce public demand for endangered wildlife.

The leaders of the United States and Việt Nam have anticipated launching a new five-year bilateral programme to combat wildlife trafficking through the United States Agency for International Development whose counterpart is the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Việt Nam for the programme.

The new programme is aimed at reducing consumer demand for illegal wildlife products, building wildlife law enforcement and prosecution capacity, and augmenting and harmonising the legal framework for combating wildlife crime in Việt Nam.

The United States also intends to support the protection of endangered and threatened species in Việt Nam through a new conservation programme in key provinces. --VNS