ASEAN, US Hold High-Level Interagency Video Conference on COVID-19 Countermeasures

Diplomacy in the time of COVID-19. Temporary Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) Leader of the Philippines Junever M. Mahilum-West joins her fellow ASEAN SOM and US Government officials during the teleconference.

PASAY CITY 02 April 2020 – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations Coordination Council Working Group on Public Health Emergencies (ACCWG-PHE), which had its inaugural meeting on 31 March 2020, and United States (US) inter-agency officials met on 01 April 2020 in an online video conference to discuss ASEAN-US cooperation to counter the COVID-19 pandemic.

The meeting was co-chaired by Vice Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dzung, Senior Official for ASEAN of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; and US Assistant Secretary of State David Stilwell, United States Senior Official for ASEAN.

In their respective interventions, ASEAN Member States discussed the importance of a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach in the fight against the pandemic, and highlighted the use of ASEAN-US Strategic Partnership to strengthen coordination in the face of unprecedented challenges brought by COVID-19.

Officials from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) presented the measures taken by the US as well as the cooperation programs with the region, and underscored the need to strengthen information exchange, transparency, and sharing of best practices in the fight against the pandemic.

All delegations agreed, first and foremost, that all efforts are aimed at ensuring the safety and well-being of their combined one billion-strong population.

Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for ASEAN Affairs and Temporary Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) Leader of the Philippines Junever M. Mahilum-West called for enhanced ASEAN-US cooperation among scientists, researchers, and medical professionals to advance knowledge and enhance capacity-building. She also welcomed the US proposal to collaborate on research and development as well as training and creating a region-wide center for disease control.

Other agencies represented in the Philippine Delegation were the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and Department of Transportation (DOTr). The Permanent Mission of the Philippines to ASEAN in Jakarta also joined the teleconference.

Assistant Secretary Mahilum-West presented the Philippine experience with Enhanced Community Quarantine to “flatten the curve” as well as the fiscal and other interventions to mitigate adverse socio-economic effects with particular attention given to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and the most vulnerable sectors of society. She also presented the figures on confirmed cases, recoveries, and deaths as of 31 March; and the desired steps towards recovery. The Assistant Secretary underscored the importance of giving ASEAN countries access to new anti-COVID vaccines and drugs that would be produced.

The Philippine Delegation also underlined the importance of mutual assistance between the US and ASEAN in helping their respective nationals in each other’s territories in the wake of COVID-19. In this connection, ASEAN Delegations encouraged timely information on border restrictions to give the traveling public ample time for necessary arrangements.

In response to ASEAN’s call to strengthen health systems, the US reaffirmed its commitment to public health assistance and its continued support for exchange programs for ASEAN medical and health professionals.

ASEAN-US cooperation in supporting regional cooperation and respective national government capacities to prevent, detect, and respond to COVID-19 will continue to be discussed in subsequent meetings via teleconferencing. END

Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for ASEAN Affairs and Temporary Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) Leader of the Philippines Junever M. Mahilum-West Mahilum-West heads the Philippine Delegation during the ASEAN - US high-level interagency video conference on Public Health Emergencies on
01 April 2020.