OPENING ADDRESS
Dr. Tran Cong Phan*

Good Morning,
Dear Mr. Keisuke Senta, Director of UNAFEI,Distinguished Guests and Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of the Leaders of the Supreme People's Procuracy of Viet Nam, I warmly
welcome all of you to the 11th Regional Seminar on Good Governance for Southeast AsianCountries, which is held in Hanoi, the capital city of Viet Nam with over a thousand years ofhistory and the given title "City of Peace". I am very honoured to welcome all of you here todiscuss and share your views on the theme, "Best Practices in Anti-corruption: A Decade ofInstitutional and Practical Development in Southeast Asia.”
I would also like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to UNAFEI and its
Director for their trust and cooperation with the Supreme People's Procuracy to co-host thisSeminar.
As you know, UNAFEI has consistently companioned the Southeast Asian nations
through the regional seminar series for good governance over the past decade. It has created an
important legal forum where specialists, speakers and delegates from the ASEAN andinternational organizations are allowed to discuss and share their in-depth legal knowledge andskills in combating corruption, improving governance, and promoting integrity in governmental
systems in accordance with the rule of law.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It came to my attention that delegates from other countries in the region have discussed
topics related to good governance over the past 10 seminars, including issues such as:strengthening the capacity to investigate, prosecute and adjudicate corruption cases; improveadministrative and criminal justice measures to prevent corruption crimes; protect witnesses andinformants of corruption crimes; international cooperation through criminal mutual legal
assistance and extradition in an effort to handle corruption; and difficulties and obstacles forinvestigation, prosecution, trial of corruption crimes. This 11th Regional Seminar will be an*

Deputy Procurator General, Supreme People’s Procuracy of Viet Nam.

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opportunity for us to evaluate, share experience and best practices to combat corruption as theabove-mentioned theme of the workshop.
Ladies and gentlemen,
In Viet Nam, corruption prevention is a responsibility shared by the whole politicalsystem and it is an important, urgent and long-term task throughout the whole process ofaccelerating socio-economic development and building the state on the principal of the rule oflaw.
Over the past 10 years, the anti-corruption framework has been improved. Compared tothe 2009 Code, the 2015 Penal Code expanded the scope of criminal offences in the private
sector to criminalize the act of bribing foreign public officials and employees from internationalorganizations. The 2005 Law on Preventing and Combating Corruption was also amended in2012 with the additional regulations to encourage public disclosure and transparency in theactivities of agencies and organizations and government bidding and procurement. This law will
be further amended in the coming 4th Plenary Meeting of the 14th National Assembly thisOctober. In addition, the Judicial Department also promulgated many laws relating togovernance to prevent abuse of power and misuse of public property for personal gain, such as:
the Law on Thrift Practice and Waste Combat (Law No. 44/2013); the Bidding Law (Law No.
43/2013); the Urban Planning Law (Act No. 30/2009).
In order to fight corruption, in 2009, the Government of Viet Nam also issued theNational Strategy for Preventing and Fighting against Corruption by 2020, which introduced
solutions to promote public disclosure and transparency in policymaking, legal development andimplementation; to perfect the economic management mechanism; to increase the efficiency ininvestigating, prosecuting and adjudicating corruption offenders; to raise awareness and promote
the role of the whole society in the fight against corruption.
In the effort to curb corruption, the People’s Procuracy of Viet Nam has prosecuted many
serious corruption cases involving major corporations, government-owned and joint stockcompanies, which seriously caused economic damage and drew public attention. In some ofthese cases, the criminals tried to flee and transfer assets acquired through illegal acts, bribery
and embezzlement to other countries. Therefore, international cooperation and mutual legal
assistance in criminal matters are needed to deal with such crime. As the central authority formutual legal assistance in criminal matters, the Supreme People’s Procuracy of Viet Nam desiresto strengthen relations with judicial agencies in other countries to deal with crime, especiallycorruption, more effectively in the future.
For this reason, I am hopeful that the 11th Regional Seminar on Good Governance forSoutheast Asian Countries held in Hanoi will be a great success. Finally, I wish the Director ofUNAFEI and the distinguished guests and delegates good health, happiness and success. Thankyou.

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