Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham BinhMinh, in hiscapacity as ASEAN 2020 Chair, delivered a speech at an ASEAN-EU ministerialteleconference on cooperation in coping with the epidemic on March 20.

Following is the full text of his speech.

Excellencies Dr. Vivian Balakrisnan and Dr. Lam Pin Min,

High Representative Josef Borrell and Commissioner Janez Lenarcic, Colleaguesfrom ASEAN and the EU,

Greetings from Hanoi!

1. Thank you very much, Minister Vivian and Dr. Lam and your team for arrangingthis video conference between ASEAN and the EU on the Coronavirus disease(COVID-19).

I fully share the remarks by the Co-chairs.Indeed, no country or region is immune to the impact of COVID-19. It is theright time for ASEAN and the EU to strengthen our active cooperation inresponse to COVID-19.

I thank Dato’ Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General of ASEAN, for his comprehensivebriefing on the COVID-19 situation in the ASEAN region and actions undertakenby ASEAN sectoral bodies.

2. ASEAN Member States were among the first countries that recorded cases ofCOVID-19 infections. With past experience in dealing with the SARS outbreak in2003, ASEAN has acted fast and pro-actively, both by individual Member Stateand through coordinated actions of the ASEAN Community.

As the ASEAN Chair 2020, Vietnam has been working closely with other ASEANMember States in advancing a multi-sectoral approach to enhance ASEAN’spreparedness and responsive measures to combat the disease and minimise itsimpacts. Our ongoing concerted efforts against this pandemic have shown a truly“Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN”.

- On 14 February 2020, the Prime Minister of Vietnam, upon consultations withLeaders of ASEAN Member States, has issued an ASEAN Chairman’s Statement onASEAN Collective response to the outbreak of COVID-19.

- On 20 February 2020, Vietnam has convened a Special Meeting of the ASEANForeign Ministers to discuss practical measures to move forward ASEAN’scollective approach to mitigate and subsequently eliminate the threats of theCOVID-19.

- Regular exchange of information and daily updates have also been enhancedamong ASEAN Member States. The public can find rapid and necessary informationupdate on new confirmed cases, measures taken at the national level and a listof national hotline numbers  and contactsin ASEAN Member States.

- ASEAN has also strengthened various forms of cooperation with our externalpartners in addressing the COVID-19, which includes the recent specialASEAN-China Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on 20 February in Vientiane, Lao PDR.

I strongly believe that our Video Conference today will be another significantcontribution to those efforts along that line.

There are some encouraging results thank to such timely efforts. Out of the 650million population, the rate of infectious cases in ASEAN is less than 0.001percent (2.179 cases) and 12 percent of infected patients has been successfullycured. Despite the growing number of infections, the fatality rate accounts foronly 2.07 percent of total cases.

But the situation is still worrisome and much more to be done.

Excellencies and Colleagues,

3. As the UN Secretary-General has rightly pointed out yesterday, we are facinga global health and human crisis that calls for solidarity.

Each country, each region may have our own way to deal with this crisis. But Ibelieve that, acting alone is not an option, and will not address the globalscale and complexity of the crisis.

Therefore, as the two leading organisations of two regions, there are much thatthe EU and ASEAN can do together to demonstrate our abilities to overcomeemerging challenges through joint actions and efforts, to the ultimate end ofprotecting the live of our people.

Allow me to share my thoughts on the priorities for our cooperation:

First, to promote policy coordination, information exchange, technicalassistance and health care resources where appropriate.

As our struggle is going on, we can share with each other good experiences andbest practices to detect, test, quarantine, trace and control communitytransmission.

With your advanced public health systems, research and technology capacilities,EU can cooperate and assist ASEAN in developing effective preventive andtreatment methodologies, including vaccines and drugs research and development.

Our ASEAN Health sector colleagues represented here shall be the focal pointsof ASEAN in collaboration with their EU counterparts in this public healthspecific aspect.

Information exchange and sharing should be kept constant throughout the courseof our fight against the pandemic. 

Second, as we place the people first in the fight against the pandemic, it isimportant for all governments to ensure the safety of our nationals who are inareas affected by COVID-19.

Efforts should be strengthened to temporarily restrict the peoples’ movementthat can worsen the spread of the virus through proper risk communications.

On the other hand, ASEAN and the EU can work together to assure that ournationals who stay or work in each other’s regions are provided with necessaryinformation on appropriate health safety measures and if they get infected,they will be duly treated.

Third, since the pandemic is taking a heavy toll on our socities and economies,we need to strike a sound balance between protecting public health andminimising socio-economic disruption.

The EU and ASEAN are each other’s leading trading, investment and tourismpartners. Let’s act together and coordinate policy measures to minimize supplychain disruptions, gradually restore tourism and business as usual, preventweaker demands and spill-over effects to other sectors of the economy andsociety.

We should also take joint actions to ensure the outbreak of COVID-19 can notdivide peoples through xenophobia and discrimination, but will unite usfurther.

4. Speaking for Vietnam, we were among the first ASEAN Member States beingaffected by COVID-19 and we have indeed been going through a hard time.

The Government has spared no effort to: first prevent the spread of the virus;second, treat those infected, Vietnamese or other nationals, help them recover;and third, striving to maintain the stability of the economy and our society.

So far, we are able to maintain a low number of cases of infections in Vietnam.Through undertaking a set of coherent measures, various positive outcomes havebeen recorded: the first 16 patients infected with the virus were all cured andremain in stable and healthy condition; the rest of the infected peoples areunder treatment (we provide equal treatment to infected patients be theyVietnamese or foreign nationals); suspected cases and those with close contactsand travellers from outbreak areas are quarantined.

5. Vietnam will stand united with ASEAN and our partners, the WHO and theinternational community toward the complete control and subsequent eliminationof the threats from COVID-19.

I thank you./.