Asean conducts interagency online meetings on pandemic
THE Asean Coordinating Council Working Group on Public Health Emergencies (ACCWG-PHE) held its inaugural meeting on March31,whileunitedstatesinteragencyofficials joined them on April 1 via online videoconferences to discuss Asean-us cooperation to counter the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam’s Vice Foreign Minister and Senior Official for Asean Nguyen Quoc Dzung as well as US Assistant Secretary of State and States Senior Official for Asean David Stilwell cochaired the meeting.
In their respective interventions, Asean member-states discussed the importance of a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach in the fight against the pandemic, and then highlighted the use of Asean-us Strategic Partnership to strengthen coordination in the face of unprecedented challenges brought by Covid-19.
Officials from the US Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United States Agency for International Development presented the measures taken by the US as well as the cooperation programs with the region, then underscored the need to strengthen information exchange, transparency and sharing of best practices in the fight against the pandemic.
The entire delegation agreed, first and foremost, that all efforts are aimed at ensuring the safety and well-being of their combined 1 billionstrong population.
Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for Asean Affairs and Temporary Senior Officials’ Meeting Leader of the Philippines Junever M. Mahilum-west called for enhanced Asean-us cooperation among scientists, researchers and medical professionals to advance knowledge and enhance capacity building. She also welcomed the US proposal to collaborate on research and development as well as training and creating a region-wide center for disease control.
Mutual assistance
MAHILUM-WEST presented the Philippine experience with its enhanced community quarantine in an effort to “flatten the curve” as well as fiscal and other interventions to mitigate adverse socioeconomic effects, with particular attention given to micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises and the most vulnerable sectors of society. She also presented the figures on confirmed cases, recoveries and deaths as of March 31, as well as the desired steps toward recovery.
The assistant secretary underscored the importance of providing Asean countries access to new anti-covid-19 vaccines and drugs that would be produced.
Asean-us cooperation in supporting regional cooperation and respec tive national government capacities to prevent, detect and respond to Covid-19 will continue to be discussed in subsequent meetings via teleconferencing.