Jakarta (VNA) - Vietnam has demonstrated its strong leadership in spearheading acollective regional response to COVID-19, said Secretary-General of theAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Dato Lim Jock Hoi.

He made the remarks in an interview granted to the VietnamNews Agency (VNA)’s reporter in Jakarta, Indonesia, following the onlineSpecial ASEAN and ASEAN+3 Summits on the COVID-19 response chaired byVietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on April 14.

The summits were a concrete demonstration of ASEAN’ssolidarity and leadership manifested in concrete regional cooperation with itsPlus Three neighbours, especially in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, hesaid.

Accordingto the Secretary-General, the summits were also an opportunity for ASEAN toenhance cooperative relationships between ASEAN Plus Three counterparts,together to respond COVID-19. Especially given the pandemic has shown that thevirus knows no national boundaries, and a collective response will complementand strengthen, national and local responses.

The ASEAN health sector, as one of the first regional responders to the COVID-19outbreak, has been reaffirmed by the ASEAN leaders in its mandate to concretisecollective efforts from all stakeholders and sectors, to support awhole-of-government and whole-of-health system approach with a strongerregional response in mitigating the impact of this pandemic.  

“On theeconomic front, ASEAN has renewed our commitment to ensure continuedmacroeconomic and financial stability and liquidity; ensure supply chainconnectivity and production and distribution continuity particularly ofessential supplies such as medical supplies, food and agricultural products;and mitigation of the impact of the pandemic on vulnerable households andindividuals, affected sectors, and small, micro, and medium enterprises,” hesaid.

The summitshave also reaffirmed the need for a post-pandemic recovery plan, he said,adding that this plan will involve collaboration among industries, privatesector and other actors.

The leaders also urged greater collaborative effort ininformation and knowledge sharing not only in areas of medical development butalso on domestic policies related to social and health security given the vastimpact of COVID-19 on communities, the Secretary-General said.

“Vietnam hasdemonstrated strong leadership in spearheading a collective regional responseto COVID-19. Its Chairmanship theme of building a cohesive and responsiveASEAN is very relevant given the situation we find ourselves in. Indeed, ASEANhas come together and responded quickly to the pandemic since February, andtoday, through the two summits. ASEAN’s strong response is in large part due toVietnam’s leadership in encouraging our continued dialogue and collaboration,”the ASEAN chief stressed.

“Theconvening of today’s summits conducted via video conference has been an achievementin its own right. Vietnam has shown that we can overcome the challenges ofCOVID-19 if the region works together in unity and with resilience,” heconcluded./.