Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh holds a phone discussion with Secretary-General of ASEAN Lim Jock Hoi (Photo: The Ministry of Industry and Trade) Hanoi (VNA) - Minister of Industry and Trade TranTuan Anh, on behalf of ASEAN Economic Ministers, held a phone discussion with Secretary-General of ASEAN Lim Jock Hoi on May 6 regarding plans for recovering the regional economy and maintaining intra-bloc supplychains after the COVID-19 pandemic has been brought under control.
The discussion also focused on the implementation of regional leaders’ directionsat the ASEAN 3 Special Summit on COVID-19 Response in April.
The minister affirmed that Vietnam is paying close attentionto the quick response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on regional economiesand supply chains.
As Chair of ASEAN in 2020, Vietnam supports and is willing to facilitate exchangeswithin the framework of ASEAN 3 to devise an economic recovery plan and preventthe negative effects of the pandemic, as directed by ASEAN 3 leaders, he said.
Minister Anh and ASEAN Secretary-General Lim agreed to monitor and pushfor early agreement between ASEAN member countries and the three partner nationsof China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea on the content and adoption of a jointstatement of ASEAN 3 Ministers on coping with COVID-19 in the time to come.
He thanked Lim for his support for Vietnam promotingits role as ASEAN Chair, in particular his support for the country’s proposal toissue a joint statement from the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) on enhancing economicresilience to respond to COVID-19 at the AEM Retreat in March, and to prompt ASEANmember nations to approve a joint statement from ASEAN and Japanese economic ministers on initiatives on economic resilience in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The minister also updated the ASEAN Secretary-General on the Vietnamese Prime Minister’s decisionto remove temporary restrictions on the export of medical products such asmasks and to resume normal rice exports from May 1 in a spirit of collective responsibilityin ensuring food supply in the ASEAN Community and in accordance with declarationsadopted by ASEAN Economic Ministers and partner countries./.
VNA
