At the meeting (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung, head of the ASEAN SOM of Vietnam, the ASEAN Chair 2020, chaired the fourth meeting of the ASEANCoordinating Council (ACC) Working Group on Public Health Emergencies (ACCWG-PHE) on October 14 via a video conference.
At themeeting, ASEAN officials hailed closer cooperation among ASEAN specialisedagencies in the fight against COVID-19. They also expressed concern over theimpact of the pandemic on residents and corporate community.
They reviewedregional cooperation in response to the pandemic, especially realising thegrouping’s major initiatives.
The ACCWG-PHE agreed to adopt the amended concept document on the ASEANCOVID-19 response fund. The concept document on regional reserve of medicalsupplies was also adopted at the meeting. The two documents will be submittedto the ASEAN Coordinating Council before being tabled for discussion at the 37th ASEAN Summit scheduled for November.
Countries will consider and opine on the ASEANstandard operating procedure (SOP) for public health emergencies, the draftcomprehensive recovery framework for ASEAN, and the Implementation plan.
Participants were urged to enhance collaboration to completethose documents on schedule, prior to the 37th ASEAN Summit.
ASEAN agreed to form its regional reserve of medicalsupplies and continue to discuss the extension of the reserve to the ASEAN+3mechanism.
Regarding a proposal to set up ASEAN Emergency OperationsCentre (EOC) Network for Public Health and new communicable diseases, ASEANnations urged the Senior Officials' Meeting on Health Development (SOMHD) tofurther work with relevant agencies to officially announce the launch of the centreat the 23rd ASEAN-Japan Summit slated for November.
The ASEAN consented to issue ASEAN leaders’ statementon the regional travel corridor framework at the upcoming Summit.
Speaking at the meeting as ACCWG-PHE Chair, Deputy Minister Dung spoke highly the working group’s role incoordinating joint efforts of ASEAN in tackling COVID-19 over the recent past.
As the 37th ASEAN Summit draws near, he called on relevantunits of the grouping to continue close and effective cooperation in an attempt tocomplete ASEAN’s main initiatives on COVID-19 on schedule./.
