Secretary for Administration and Justice Florinda Chan Lai Man and Hong Kong Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung said Thursday that the two special administrative regions will further improve judiciary co-operation and work on a prisoner exchange agreement.
After attending Thursday’s opening ceremony of the 57th congress of the International Union of Lawyers (UIA) at the Venetian as a guest speaker, Chan said she had discussed with Yuen ways to further improve judicial co-operation in a formal meeting at Government House earlier yesterday.
The five-day congress, co-organised by the Macau Lawyers Association (AAM), will “discuss the role of lawyers facing corruption,” according to its official programme. About 3000 speakers from the business, political and non-profit fields will give presentations. About 1,000 legal professionals from 70 countries and regions will reportedly attend the event.
Talking to reporters, Chan said that both governments had reached a consensus on further co-operation in the legal field such as exchanges of prisoners.
Asked by reporters about the latest situation of the exchange of prisoners between Hong Kong and Macau, Chan said that an agreement had not yet been reached by the two sides.
“We [the governments of Hong Kong and Macau] think that there is already a good basis [regarding judicial co-operation], thus work on the matter [a prisoner-exchange agreement] can start,” Chan was quoted by The Macau Post Daily as saying.
After also attending the congress as a guest speaker, Yuen told the media that that both governments would further work on judicial co-operation, particularly in the field of criminal affairs.(macaunews)
