Secretary General of the ASEAN-Japan Centre Masataka Fujita (Source: VNA) Tokyo (VNA) - Secretary General of the ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC) Masataka Fujita has appreciated continued efforts by the Vietnamese Government in holding the good ASEAN chairmanship in 2020, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vietnam has been successful in managing and organising all the meetings, he affirmed in an interview granted to Vietnam News Agency correspondents in Tokyo, on the occasion of the 37th ASEAN Summit and related meetings from November 12-15.
This year is quite special in the sense that all the countries have been suffering from the pandemic. But, as a successful country in terms of controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam can take the lead in not only surviving but also becoming stronger, he stated.
The official emphasised the importance of actions taken by the Vietnam Government to boost post-pandemic economic recovery, adding that this is a “good opportunity for Vietnam to show how to get stronger”.
To cope with the uncertain future caused by the pandemic, Fujita highlighted the need to make economies and supply chains much stronger and more resilient.
Attention should be paid to risk management to stay ready in response to any financial crisis, natural disaster or pandemic, he stated.
According to him, not only ASEAN but also Japan have learned how slow they are in this transformation. Most of the countries are going down and experiencing negative growth, by the way, only Vietnam has positive growth this year.
“When you look at the industrial structure, not all the industries are down. In fact, IT-related areas are still growing. In the US and other countries where stock prices are rising, actually, all the rising stocks came from IT-related companies. Therefore, digitalisation is quite important, and this time, both ASEAN and Japan learned how slow we are. In this particular area, I think ASEAN and Japan can cooperate further,” said Fujita.
He also suggested both sides strengthen cooperation in the healthcare sector.
The official said that all the countries are suffering from the pandemic crisis, and there are some countries to do relaxation in investment in the healthcare sector and try to establish companies producing masks or personal protective gears as well, adding the industries which are resistant to such a crisis should be promoted further./.
VNA
