A senior official from the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Friday called on the countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) to work together to crack down on human trafficking.

Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, was speaking to GMS state ministers,who are attending a meeting on stopping on human trafficking.

Zhou said the declaration passed during the meeting would have a great impact on GMS cooperation to stop human trafficking.

The Chinese government was intent on protecting the rights of women and children, and law enforcement agencies were prepared to tackle traffickers.

He said the government appreciated the cooperation of the United Nations Inter-agency Project on Human trafficking in the Greater Mekong Subregion, and would push for more substantial and efficient cooperation.

Ministers from the six nations of the GMS were meeting from Dec. 12 to 14, to coordinate a strategy to fight transnational human trafficking.

The meeting, the second of its kind, groups ministers from China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The first meeting was held in October in Yangon, Myanmar.

(Xinhua News Agency December 15, 2007)