FOREIGN Affairs Assistant Secretary Junever M. Mahilum-West led the Philippine delegation in the fourth meeting of the Asean Coordinating Council Working Group on Public Health Emergencies (ACCWG-PHE) and the East Asia Summit (EAS) Experts’ Meeting held consecutively by videoconference on October 14.
Said meetings provided the country with a forum to exchange knowledge and best practices in pandemic control, response and recovery with other regional member-states and other external partners through Asean-led mechanisms.
The ACCWG-PHE is tasked to coordinate the bloc’s collective response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), and is responsible for cross-cutting initiatives that bridge existing strategies across the region.
The meeting discussed the Asean Comprehensive Recovery Framework, which is expected to be adopted at the 37th Asean Summit scheduled next month. It also tackled progress in other key initiatives, such as the Standard Operating Procedures on Public Health Emergencies, the operationalization of the Covid-19 Asean Response Fund, the Regional Reserve of Medical Supplies for Public Health Emergencies, and the creation of an Asean Travel Corridor Arrangement.
Pandemic recovery efforts are directed at jumpstarting economic and social recovery in the region through free trade, gradual reopening of tourism and travel activities, as well as the strengthening of preparedness to future pandemics.
The EAS Experts’ Meeting, an initiative by Indonesia and Vietnam, which is cosponsored by Russia and China, expanded discussion on key regional initiatives in Covid-19 response beyond the 10 Asean member-states, including participating countries such as Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the United States and Russia. The experts discussed ongoing vaccine research and development, with some countries briefing the meeting on potential vaccines that are at the final phases of testing and health standards evaluation.
Mahilum-West reiterated the Philippines’s appeal for the vaccine to be offered as a global public good in the interest of ensuring the health safety of all countries as reopening plans are underway.
Other Philippine priorities in Asean recovery initiatives include green recovery, supply chain resilience, the enhanced role of women in recovery, digitization, education, sustainable development, and the integration of data science in planning to eliminate zoonotic disease, among others. DFA
Image credits: DFA