RECORDED EARLIER: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte reaffirms the Philippines’ strong commitment and cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its Dialogue Partners in mitigating the effects of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the region as he delivers his intervention during the Special ASEAN Plus Three Summit on COVID-19 on April 14, 2020.
Addressing his fellow ASEAN Leaders and Dialogue Partners from the People’s Republic of China, Republic of Korea and Japan, President Duterte emphasizes the strengthening of the healthcare system across the region, particularly the need to increase production of vital medical needs. He expresses his confidence that a vaccine or treatment for COVID-19 can be made available soon.
The Chief Executive highlights the importance of keeping the ASEAN trade and markets open to ensure food security and supply among the citizens in the region.
Asean leaders agreed Tuesday to make every effort to maintain their trade relations amid growing fears that the supply chain will be further disrupted in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.
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During their videoconference, the Asean leaders also confirmed that the member countries will build a trust fund as part of a concerted effort to combat the new virus that causes the respiratory disease Covid-19.
The virtual summit was held as proposed by Indonesia, as the virus, first detected late last year in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, has spread worldwide, dealing a crushing blow to social and economic activities across the globe.
“Most of the Asean leaders focused on two things,” Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, who attended the online summit along with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, told reporters.
“The first was their common efforts to fight against the Covid-19. The second was their cooperation to deal with the impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak in socioeconomic sectors,” she said at a video press conference.
A joint declaration released after the special summit said: “We reaffirmed our determination and commitment…to act jointly and decisively to control the spread of the disease while mitigating its adverse impact on our people’s livelihood, our societies and economies.”
Mrs Retno added the leaders of the 10-member bloc also agreed to bolster ties to deal with the virus in such areas as information, research, epidemiology and clinical treatment.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said during the videoconference: “Retreating from the regional and global connections cannot be the answer,” according to his Presidential Communications Operations Office.
“Asean must collaborate and coordinate within our region and beyond,” he said, adding, “Regardless of how we handle the crisis within our own respective territories, we can only be truly safe if we defeat this virus everywhere.”
The meeting was chaired by Vietnam, which holds the rotating chairmanship of Asean this year.
Since earlier this year, Asean nations have been seeing a rise in the number of those infected by the virus, which has already killed more than 120,000 people worldwide.
In April, the Asian Development Bank said it expects economic growth of just 1% in the Southeast Asian region in 2020 from a year earlier, a sharp downgrade from its forecast late last month of 4.7% growth.
Against a backdrop of the virus outbreak, the world economy is likely to face a serious downturn, sparking concern that the economies of Asean countries, some of which rely heavily on exports, may shrink for an extended period.
Last month, Vietnam informed its fellow members that a leaders’ summit to be hosted by the nation would be postponed from April to late June, a diplomatic source said.
As the virus continues to spread globally, a special US-Asean summit originally scheduled for mid-March in Las Vegas has also been delayed.
Asean groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/
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