The Vietnamese Government leader made the statement as he addressed the highly anticipated ASEAN – US Special Summit on May 13 (US time). The summit includes a meeting between ASEAN leaders and US President Joe Biden, a session between ASEAN leaders and US Vice President Kamala Harris on maritime security and COVID-19, and a session between ASEAN leaders and the US cabinet on climate, clean energy, and infrastructure.
US leaders have announced a range of proposals and initiatives for cooperation with ASEAN. The US will invest 40 million USD to finance the development of clean energy infrastructure, another 40 million USD to strengthen maritime cooperation, 150 million USD to implement the ASEAN-US Health Futures initiative, provide support for ASEAN’s climate change response capacity enhancement and infrastructure development, and 70 million USD for educational programmes and people-to-people exchanges.
ASEAN leaders thanked the US for its proactive support in responding to COVID-19, helping to improve disease response capacity, providing vaccines, and recently establishing the Southeast Asia Regional Office of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Hanoi, Vietnam. ASEAN member states expect the US to continue backing ASEAN’s pandemic prevention initiatives./.
