Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese PrimeMinister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Indonesian President Joko Widodo emphasised theneed to boost cooperation among countries in the Association of Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN) to cope with the acute respiratory disease caused by a new coronavirus (nCoV) during theirtelephone talks on February 4.
President Widodo highly evaluated the VietnameseGovernment’s move to take prompt and comprehensive measures to prevent thespread of the disease.
He expressed his belief that under the close direction of PM Phuc and with thecapability of the health sector, Vietnam is completely able to prevent theoutbreak.
PM Phuc also hailed Indonesia as one of thecountries to rapidly implement measures to prevent the disease, with noinfection cases being reported so far.
The two leaders agreed that ASEAN member statesshould proactively coordinate in line with the spirit of the 2020 ASEAN theme“Cohesive and Responsive” to seek common solutions and share responsibility tocope with the disease as they did in the prevention of the Severe AcuteRespiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003.
According to PM Phuc, Deputy Prime Minister andForeign Minister Pham Binh Minh as Chairman of the ASEAN Coordinating Councilhas sent letters to ASEAN countries to express the spirit of coordination andjoint action of the bloc to prevent and control the disease.
He added that Vietnam had proposed ASEANestablish a ministerial-level joint working group with the participation oftransport, immigration, border control and consular agencies to soon organiseonline meetings to timely share information and coordinate actions of the ASEANmember countries, showing the intra-bloc solidarity.
President Widodo agreed with and spoke highly ofPM Phuc’s proposals.
The two leaders also agreed to enhancecoordination not only within the grouping but also between ASEAN and China,including consular assistance for citizens of the ASEAN countries affected bythe disease, especially those who are still stuck in the epidemic area.
ASEANgroups 10 countries, namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia,Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam./.
VNA
