Asian, African, and North American Leaders Gather in Bangkok for Conference to Combat Illegal Wildlife Trade

BANGKOK (Oct. 23, 2014) – Between October 21-23 2014, Chinese NGO the Global Environmental Institute (GEI) was invited to take part as an NGO observer-participant in the Special Investigation Group meeting of Asia’s Regional Response to Endangered Species Trafficking (ARREST), held by the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Bangkok.

The purpose of the meeting was to review and conclude the experiences and shortcomings of the second phase of “Operation Cobra” and formulate an action plan for the third phase.

Representatives from Asian, African and North American illegal wildlife trade law enforcement agencies, the EU, Interpol, World Customs Organization, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), Lusaka Agreement Taskforce, the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN) and South Asian Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN) attended the meeting.

GEI also provided funding for four representatives from Myanmar and several African countries to take part in the meeting.

This was the first time an official from the Myanmar government had participated in a meeting of “Operation Cobra”, and signified Myanmar officially becoming a participating member country. “Operation Cobra” is led by the Lusaka Agreement Taskforce, China, America, South Africa, ASEAN-WEN and SAWEN to combat the international illegal wildlife trade, and has successfully carried out two enforcement operations in the past two years.