Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham BinhMinh on March 2 led a Vietnam delegation to attend a virtual Informal ASEANMinisterial Meeting, during which he affirmed Vietnam, as an active andresponsible member of the ASEAN Community, commits to working with other memberstates of the bloc in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vietnam will back and help the ASEAN Chair in 2021 to fulfillits tasks and speed up the building of the Community, he stated, stressing thatboosting relations with partners, and maintaining dialogues and cooperation bear important significance for the building process.

Deputy PM Minh noted that escalating violence and tensions, which have caused humanlosses in recent days in Myanmar, have affected peace and stability in not onlyMyanmar but also the whole region.

He called on parties involved to restrain and avoid allviolent activities, ensure safety for people, and organise peace dialogues tosoon bring the situation back to normal.

The Vietnamese representative recommended that ASEAN coordinate closely, promote its role, effectively use existing cooperationmechanisms and tools, including coordinating with global organisations andmechanisms such as the United Nations, to help Myanmar soon stabilise itssituation, for the interests of its people and nation, and for peace andstability in the region and for solidarity and prestige of ASEAN.

At the meetings, delegates discussed the progress of the implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025,  a plan to build an ASEANCommunity Vision beyond 2025, and initiatives on pandemicresponse and post-pandemic recovery. They also touched upon ASEAN’s external relations,and regional and international issues of mutual concern.

They agreed to press on with efforts to build the ASEANCommunity, respond to the COVID-19, and effectively carry out the post-pandemicrecovery plan, including early realizing the ASEAN travel corridor initiative, using the COVID-19ASEAN Response Fund to purchase vaccines for citizens, and putting the ASEANRegional Reserve of Medical Supplies into operation.

ASEAN member states reached a consensus on expanding anddeepening relations with partners so as to promote multilateralism andcollective response to common challenges. They stressed the need for ASEANto maintain solidarity and stance, and be ready to play its role in addressingcommon challenges in the regional and international situations.

Delegates also shared their concerns and viewpoints over recentdevelopments in Myanmar, as well as ASEAN’s role in this issue.

Brunei – the ASEAN Chair in 2021 – then issued the ASEANChairman’s Statement on the outcomes of the meeting./.