Chinese minister elected Interpol President

The President of the Interpol heads its Executive Committee and is elected by the General Assembly for a period of four years.

Beijing, Nov 10 China's Vice Minister for Public Security on Thursday was elected the President of the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol).

Meng Hongwei is the first Chinese official to take the post, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meng Hongwei took over the position from his predecessor Mireille Ballestrazzi from France after being elected at the closing ceremony of Interpol's 85th General Assembly held in Bali, Indonesia.

The President of the Interpol heads its Executive Committee and is elected by the General Assembly for a period of four years.

As the new president, Meng's duty includes chairing meetings of the Executive Committee which ensures the implementation of decisions made at the General Assembly.

During his speech, Meng promised to work together with all member states of Interpol to build the international group into a stronger platform for global police cooperation.

According to Meng, he will promote more effective global police cooperation, better support the capacity-building efforts of police in all member countries, improve the coordination among regional and global police forces with a view to building a safer world and a more efficient Interpol that is beneficial for all member states.

Founded in 1914 and now headquartered in Lyon, France, Interpol is the second largest international organisation after the UN with 190 members.

By establishing I-24/7 global police communications system, a large scale database for stolen and lost travel documents, and coordinating global and regional joint law enforcement operations on regular basis, Interpol has played an important role in deepening global police cooperation and combating transnational criminal offences.

IANS