PHNOM PENH, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The six Greater Mekong Sub-region(GMS) Governments (Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam) will meet in Phnom Penh next week to review and update the three year plan of action of joint activities to realize their vision of a trafficking-free Mekong region.

    The crime of human trafficking continues to prevail in the region, according to a statement of UNIAP (the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-region) obtained on Sunday.

    "Since the signing of the historic COMMIT Memorandum of Understanding in Yangon, Myanmar in October 2004, by Ministers of the six countries, the Governments have been active in laying the foundation for a network of cooperation to stop traffickers and prosecute them, protect victims of trafficking and assist them return safely home, and launch efforts to prevent others from sharing the same fate," it said.

    This high level gathering is a critical step forward that demonstrates the will and determination of the GMS governments to join together to put political commitments made in the COMMIT agreement into concrete action.

    The COMMIT Sub-regional Plan of Action focuses on the areas of law enforcement and criminal justice, and prevention, protection, recovery and reintegration of victims and set the standard for anti-trafficking work in the Asian region.

    Over thirty senior government officials will attend in order to review and assess the course of cooperation on trafficking in the Mekong region for the next decade and more, according to the statement. Enditem