Thai PM to attend online ASEAN+3 meeting on COVID-19

Bangkok (VNA) –
Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will attend a teleconference of
ASEAN+3 on April 14 to discuss coordination in implementing stronger measures
to protect the bloc’s 650 million population against COVID-19.
The one-day
event will emphasise on the intensification of joint efforts to prevent the
pandemic, alongside drastic measures that each ASEAN member state is carying
out.
Leaders of
the 10-nation bloc will talk with their counterparts from the three partners
namely China, the Republic of Korea, and Japan.
Thai media
cited a source close to the meeting preparations as saying the meeting is
expected to have two declarations delivered.
Earlier at the 25th meeting of the ASEAN
Coordinating Council on April 10, all foreign ministers of ASEAN member
countries agreed to set up an ASEAN COVID-19 Response Fund, according to Thai
Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai.
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./.