Key international and national organizations met in Hanoi on Thursday in a summit designed to bolster co-operation in tackling the illegal trans-boundary wildlife trade.

The two-day workshop brought together Vietnamese and international enforcement agencies to discuss enforcement challenges and strategies, according to wildlife trade monitor network TRAFFIC in a press release December 2.

The discussions will also draw from the knowledge of enforcement experts in other fields of illegal trade (such as narcotic and human trafficking), it said.

Representatives from international organizations including INTERPOL, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Customs Organization, and South Africa National Wildlife Crime Reaction Unit, will join nearly 30 representatives from Vietnamese enforcement agencies.

Despite an increase in enforcement efforts by international organizations and governments to control illegal wildlife trade at the national, regional and global level, this thriving business continues to threaten species such as tigers, rhinoceroses and elephants with extinction, TRAFFIC said in a statement.