Vietnamese Public Security official recognised for outstanding Australia Award achievement

HANOI – 10 August 2010: Captain Le Hoang Duong of the International Cooperation Department, Ministry of Public Security (MPS), accepted the ‘highest-ranking international student’ award for his course at the Australian Embassy, from Professor Andrew Goldsmith of the University of Wollongong and His Excellency Mr Allaster Cox, Australian Ambassador to Vietnam.

The award recognises Captain Duong’s outstanding achievement on the Master of Transnational Crime Prevention program at the University of Wollongong from 2008 to 2009.

Captain Duong was the recipient of a scholarship under the Australia Awards program (www.australiaawards.gov.au). Over 3500 Vietnamese students have studied in Australia on Australian Government scholarships since 1974. A key focus of the scholarship program is improving the capacity of Vietnam’s public service and strengthening government-to-government links.

“This year the Australian Government will award around 350 scholarships to Vietnamese students. Many of these will come from Vietnamese Government agencies like the Ministry of Public Security. These scholarships help Vietnam’s human resource development and strengthen ties between Australian and Vietnamese agencies and individuals” said Ambassador Cox.

Colonel Dinh Manh Luat, Deputy Director of International Cooperation Department at MPS said: “Many thanks to the Australian Government, the Centre of Transnational Crime Prevention, the University of Wollongong, and the Australian Institute of Police Management for their help in promoting cooperation in training between MPS and their Australian counterparts including the AFP and DIAC. The cooperation is highlighted by the fact that MPS has been recognised as a ‘priority public institution’ to receive Australia Awards since June 2010. I hope more MPS officers can access Australian study opportunities in areas like law enforcement, crime prevention and immigration control. Alumni from these programs, like Captain Duong, help strengthen the public security cooperation between our countries”.