Australia seeks police cooperation with Vietnam
Updated
Australia is seeking greater police cooperation with Vietnam to try to combat a rising drug trafficking problem between the two countries.
Our South East Asia correspondent, Karen Percy, says at least 20 Vietnamese-Australians are facing narcotics charges in Ho Chi Minh City.
Two of then have been sentenced to death under the country's tough anti-drugs laws and are hopeful of a presidential pardon.
The foreign minister, Stephen Smith, has been pressing their case in talks with Vietnam's prime minister, Nguyen Tan Dung.
"The prime minister indicated this morning that Vietnam was giving careful and proper consideration to those clemency bids," he said.
As well as pushing for the police forces to work more closely together, Australia is conducting education programs in the Vietnamese community in Sydney to try to warn people of the dangers of drug trafficking in Vietnam.
