Spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang told the ministry’s online press briefing on August 5.

Delegates attend the 54th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.

Regarding the ASEAN Community building, Hang said that Vietnam highlighted solidarity and unity as the foundation of ASEAN’s strength, and suggested the bloc promote its internal resources and hold responsibility for the common development of the region.

In implementing the results achieved in 2020, the countries agreed with Vietnam's opinion on speeding up the assessment of the performance of the ASEAN Charter, the development of the ASEAN Community Post-2025 Vision as well as the combination of sub-regional development cooperation with the ASEAN Community building process.

Regarding the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam proposed ASEAN take advantage of cooperation opportunities with partners, especially in procurement and technology transfer for vaccine production, and soon complete the ASEAN Travel Corridor Arrangement Framework this year to ensure connectivity and promote recovery of the region, Hang stated.

For external relations, the countries also shared Vietnam's views on the need for ASEAN to continue promoting the role of ASEAN-led mechanisms, uphold solidarity, promote internal resources, ensure a common voice and fair approach in relations with partners, and maintain the bloc's central role in the regional structure, she said.

She went on to say that the nations also assessed that Vietnam had well fulfilled its role as a coordinator of ASEAN-Japan relations, thus contributing to exploiting cooperation potential, taking advantage of opportunities and overcoming many challenges, especially in COVID-19 response, and expanding and deepening collaboration between the two sides.

The countries contributed and pledged to contribute a total of 20.8 million USD to the ASEAN COVID-19 Response Fund, in which the bloc has agreed to use more than 10 million USD for the purchase of vaccines through the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

In addition, the partners also affirmed that they will maintain support for ASEAN's initiatives on COVID-19 prevention and control, and made specific commitments and initiatives to support the bloc in improving the capacity of preventive medicine as well as research, development and access to COVID-19 vaccines in a safe, effective and equal manner, Hang said./.

Source: VNA