Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Quoc Dung is head of Vietnam’s ASEAN SOM. (Photo: VOV)

Dung, who is also head of Vietnam’s ASEAN SOM, asked the three ASEAN partners to share their experience in pandemic response and help ASEAN improve its COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing capacity and access to vaccine sources. He suggested that ASEAN and the three partners enhance their cooperation in economics, trade, and finance, and gradually remove travel restrictions between countries when possible.

As Chair of the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI), Vietnam wants the three partner countries to continue their support for ASEAN to narrow development gaps in sub-regions like the Mekong, which are gripped by the pandemic, Dung said. He noted that peace, security, and stability are prerequisite for recovery, growth, and sustainable development.  

At the online meeting, China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea pledged to continue their support for ASEAN’s COVID-19 prevention and control initiatives. They said they will help ASEAN countries raise their preventive medicine capacity and their access to COVID-19 vaccines. They promised to boost trade liberalization and regional economic connectivity and to promptly ratify and implement the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).