Neth Savoeun (centre) posing with his top officials and also those from Australia during the event. - Phnom Penh Post/ANN
PHNOM PENH, March 12 (Phnom Penh Post/ANN): Cambodia asked Australia to provide more support for the training of the Kingdom’s police officers in the fight against cybercrime, which is on the rise across Asia.
The request was made during a March 8 meeting between National Police chief Neth Savoeun and Australian Federal Police (AFP) Asia commander Peter Sykora in Phnom Penh.
According to a National Police social media post, Savoeun praised the “close relationship” between the police leadership of the two countries and thanked the AFP for its support.
The support includes providing advisers to formulate Cambodia’s National Police policies, supporting the establishment of the Transnational Crime Team (TCT) and providing capacity building for the Kingdom’s police officers. It also included assistance in building new facilities and other large-scale projects.
“Savoeun expressed his appreciation for the cooperation requested Australia provide more support, especially in the specialised training needed to fight cybercrime, which is unfortunately a growing trend across Asia,” said the post.
“Sykora praised the outcome of cooperation between the AFP and Cambodian National Police through the TCT, and thanked Savoeun for his continued support of the AFP. Australia values the TCT Cambodia team as a model that will be established in
other countries in the future. The AFP pledged to continue to support the Cambodian National Police,” it added.
It said Sykora also congratulated Cambodia on its removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list for money laundering and noted the National Police’s contribution to the removal.
Thong Mengdavid, a research fellow at the Asian Vision Institute’s Mekong Centre for Strategic Studies, said digitalisation is essential for promoting national development and state security, but cautioned that the evolving nature of global security has shifted toward more dangerous, modern and lethal trends, in the areas of IT, cybersecurity and drone warfare.
“Cybersecurity is a serious threat to state security due to its subtle, shadowy nature,” he said.
“Australia would be a valuable partner to the National Police. The Australians could share the skills they have so local authorities could conduct a SWOT analysis on cybersecurity matters,” he told The Post on March 9.
Mengdavid said that due to its transboundary nature, cybercrime is very much a threat to Cambodia.
“There is a need for increased cooperation with international partners, so we can learn from their expertise,” he said. - Phnom Penh Post/ANN
