The Minister of Justice, Carlo Nordio, signed two bilateral agreements on judicial cooperation with the Minister of Public Security of Vietnam, General To Lam, this afternoon at the headquarters of the Ministry. The meeting took place as part of a series of institutional appointments of the head of public security of Vietnam in Italy.
The two agreements, concerning the extradition and transfer of convicted persons, are the result of the Memorandum signed by Italy and Vietnam in 2016 and are part of the broader framework of legal strengthening that Italy has undertaken in recent years with the countries of the Southeast Asia. Today's signing comes in the year in which the 50th anniversary of the beginning of diplomatic relations between Italy and Vietnam is being celebrated.
The entry into force of these treaties has the objective of ensuring maximum effectiveness in repressing the most serious forms of transnational crime and, as Minister Nordio explained, "we are convinced that Vietnam will be a secure and reliable partner for the Italy".
Specifically, the agreement on extradition will facilitate the location, arrest and delivery of fugitives; while the treaty regarding the transfer of convicted persons will facilitate the possibility, for Italian and Vietnamese citizens detained abroad, of returning to their country of origin to serve their sentence, a circumstance currently precluded precisely by virtue of the absence of a shared legal framework.
Lastly, Minister Nordio announced that a third treaty for criminal legal assistance will soon be signed together with Vietnamese government representatives, which gives full cooperation between the two countries in the justice sector. This agreement, he explained, "will make it possible to combine traditional forms of assistance with innovative tools that are particularly useful for the investigative authorities".