Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (Photo: VNA) Firstly, ASEAN needs a holistic, synchronous and flexibleapproach to COVID-19 control with the involvement of the entire community, withpeople and businesses being the centre and subject, and with the goal ofaddressing difficulties caused by the pandemic in the spirit of "benefits harmonised,risks shared".
For an effective implementation Chinh emphasised the need toimprove the efficiency of coordination mechanisms, improve the capacity of thehealth system, be proactive in vaccines and treatment drugs and raise thepeople's awareness. On this occasion, he announced a list of medical suppliesworth millions of US dollars to be contributed to the ASEAN Regional Reserve ofMedical Supplies.
Secondly, the Vietnamese Government leader stressed thenecessity for ASEAN to position itself in the world’s reshaping socio-economic relationship,and consolidate its role as the nucleus of dialogue, cooperation and multilateraland multi-layered economic integration processes in the region.
The bloc needs to consider taking advantage of new factors such as digitaltransformation, digital economy, circular economy, green technology, renewableenergy and high-quality human resources to participate more deeply in regionaland global supply chains and improve the attractiveness of the ASEAN market.
In order to continue implementing Vietnam’s priorities inthe ASEAN Chairmanship year 2020, PM Chinh announced a plan to organise theASEAN Forum on Sub-Regional Cooperation for Sustainable Development andInclusive Growth on November 30 in Hanoi.
At the summit, leaders of ASEAN countries discussed effortsto build the community and respond to the pandemic. They agreed to ratify theASEAN Travel Corridor Agreement Framework (ATCAF), and actively considered thepossibility of mutual recognition and application of electronic vaccinationcertificates for people. The countries also suggested soon putting intooperation the ASEAN Reserve for Medical Supplies and the ASEAN Centre forResponse to Public Health Emergencies and Emerging Diseases (ACPHEED).
They approved, recognised and announced many importantdocuments, such as the Bandar Seri Begawan Declaration on the Strategic andHolistic Initiative to Link ASEAN Responses to Emergencies and Disasters (ASEANSHIELD), ASEAN Leaders' Declaration on Upholding Multilateralism, and ASEAN Leaders'Declaration on the Blue Economy./.
VNA
