CITES Secretary General John Scanlon made the commitment at a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai in Hanoi on May 28.

Scanlon appreciated Vietnam’s CITES implementation efforts, including codification of CITES regulations and the Prime Minister’s decree on measures to control and preserve endangered species of fauna and flora.

Deputy PM Hai welcomed Scanlon’s first visit to Vietnam and thanked him for his valuable advice about the 20th anniversary of CITES in Vietnam.

He asserted that the Vietnamese Government strictly and responsibly carries out regional and international conventions on the protection of wild fauna and flora. In recent years, Vietnam has made great strides in building a legal system and raising public awareness of wild animal protection.

As an entrepot of wild animal to overseas, Vietnam has directed ministries and localities to accelerate prevention and strictly deal with illegal trading in wild animals and violation of Vietnam and CITES’s regulations.

The country will continue to raise management capacity of agencies, improve public awareness, and complete legislation on wild animal protection.