Indonesian President to join ASEAN special summits on COVID-19

Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesian President Joko Widodo will attend the ASEAN Special Summit and the ASEAN+3 Special Summit on COVID-19 Response will be held online on April 14 under the chair of Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

In a press release on April 12, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi stressed that ASEAN cannot delay these two high-level meetings in the context that countries in the region and around the world are combating the COVID-19, adding that the two strategic summits will be held to seek consensus in pandemic response efforts.

She said that the summits and their sidelines meetings will discuss common efforts in addressing and mitigating the impacts of the pandemic, ensuring supply chains of food, medicine and other necessities, as well as protecting ASEAN citizens and using some of the existing cooperation mechanisms.

The ASEAN Special Summit is expected to issue a Joint Declaration on the COVID-19 pandemic, which stresses commitments on to continuing effective response to the pandemic through a unified, multi-sectoral, multilateral approach related to the entire ASEAN Community. Meanwhile, the ASEAN+3 Special Summit is also expected to issue a Joint Declaration, which affirms a common commitment to strengthening solidarity, cooperation and mutual support between ASEAN and the three partner countries of Japan, the Republic of Korea and China in controlling, preventing and responding to the impacts of the pandemic on the socio-economic field.

Earlier, at the 25th ASEAN Coordinating Council Meeting on COVID-19 via video conference, Minister Retno proposed four issues which need to be discussed at the two special summits.

In relation to anti-COVID-19 efforts, she stressed the importance of implementing the outcomes of ASEAN and ASEAN+3 Health Ministers’ Meetings. Accordingly, she suggested the ASEAN Special Summit outline mechanisms to prepare cross-border community health response protocols.

She proposed the ASEAN+3 Special Summit approve an agreement on supply chains and goods circulation on the context of disease outbreaks.

ASEAN needs to protect its citizens, including vulnerable groups, especially migrant workers, she emphasised, suggesting a protocol related to the movement of people between ASEAN member states as a measure to recover from the pandemic.

The group could consider the use of the ASEAN Development Fund and the ASEAN+3 Cooperation Fund to establish its COVID-19 Response Fund, which can assist member countries to ensure medical equipment, she added.

Founded in 1967, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

With a combined GDP of 2.8 trillion USD, ASEAN has also been badly hit by COVID-19 as the situation in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines remains volatile./.