Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Quoc Dung (centre) and other Vietnamese officials at the virtual ASEAN Joint Consultative Meeting on June 17 (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese Deputy Minister of
Foreign Affairs Nguyen Quoc Dung suggested ASEAN soon finalise a travel
corridor arrangement framework while addressing the ASEAN Joint Consultative
Meeting (JCM) on June 17.
The event took place via videoconference under the
chair of Brunei, which holds the ASEAN Chairmanship in 2021.
Participants in the meeting recognised the progress in
the ASEAN Community building over the last six months despite the complex
COVID-19 situation in the region.
They affirmed their countries’ support for Brunei to
promote the initiatives and priorities for the ASEAN Year 2021.
In particular, they agreed on the roadmap for building
the ASEAN Community’s post-2025 vision and on the establishment of a high-level
drafting group this year.
The meeting also concurred in building an ASEAN master
plan on the Fourth Industrial Revolution and accelerating the Strategic and Holistic Initiative to Link ASEAN Responses to Emergencies and Disasters (ASEAN SHIELD).
Officials agreed to step up the procurement of
COVID-19 vaccines via UNICEF and the COVAX Facility to supply for the member
countries, asking ASEAN to promptly use 10.5 million USD from its COVID-19
response fund to purchase vaccines.
Stressing
the importance of sustainable recovery, the countries highlighted the need for
the entire bloc’s engagement in implementing the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery
Framework, and for supporting enterprises, vulnerable groups, and remote areas
in the region.
At the meeting, they welcomed and approved Vietnam’s
initiative to organise an ASEAN forum on sub-regional cooperation in the third
quarter of this year that will focus on narrowing the development gap among
sub-regions for comprehensive recovery and sustainable development.
They
also highly valued the outcomes of the regional conference on the implementation
of the Initiative for ASEAN Integration for 2021 – 2025, held on May 19 under
the chair of Vietnam.
In his remarks, Deputy Minister Dung held that in the
current context, ASEAN should prioritise recovering and promoting connectivity,
by effectively implementing the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework and soon
finalising an ASEAN travel corridor arrangement framework to facilitate travel
within the bloc.
He
also pointed out the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts on the region, including the
widened development gap among sub-regions in ASEAN.
The official called on member countries to assist
remote areas, including the Mekong sub-region, to recover from the pandemic and
keep up with the common development pace in the grouping./.