Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Theseventh online meeting of the ASEAN Coordinating Council Working Group onPublic Health Emergencies (ACCWG-PHE) was held on September 27.
Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen QuocDung, head of the ASEAN SOM Vietnam, led a Vietnamese delegation to the event.
Speaking at the event, Dung hailedthe progress of implementing ASEAN initiatives on coping with COVID-19. He suggested thebloc step up vaccine purchase for its member states and encourage the sharingof vaccines on a voluntary basis to help countries in demand.
He also proposed regional statesmake further contributions to the ASEAN COVID-19 response fund and ASEANreserve of medical supplies.
Vietnam is completing internal proceduresto announce a list of contributions to the regional reserve of medical suppliesand working actively with member states to soon put the ASEAN Centre for Public Health Emergencies and Emerging Diseases (ACPHEED) into effective operation, Dung said.
Speaking highly ofachievements in theimplementation of the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework, he suggested thegrouping continue focusing on promoting economic recovery and mitigating the negative impacts of the pandemic on residents in the region.
Participants agreed that ASEAN will evenlydistribute about 100,000 – 250,000 doses of vaccine to each nation depending ontypes of vaccine, striving to deliver the first batch of vaccine in the fourthquarter this year and continue with it in the first quarter of 2022.
They also recommended ASEAN leadersadopt the ASEAN Travel Corridor Arrangement Framework (ATCAF) and continue discussingthe possibility of adopting “vaccine passport”./.
