PH Participates in Special ASEAN – Russia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

#WeHealAsOne.Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. with Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov and his fellow ASEAN Foreign Ministers during the Special ASEAN-Russia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on COVID-19. Both sides agreed to expand cooperation of the ASEAN-Russia strategic partnership through possible cooperation in vaccine research, technical exchanges, and increased pandemic preparedness.

PASAY CITY 18 June 2020– Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr., together with his fellow Foreign Ministers in ASEAN and Foreign Affairs Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov convened a Special ASEAN-Russia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on 17 June 2020.

The said Meeting discussed how ASEAN-Russia cooperation can be leveraged to address the spread of COVID-19 while managing recovery and dealing with long-term socio-economic challenges posed by the disease.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Locsin spoke on how the pandemic exposed the vulnerability of supply chains and called for cooperation to increase the resilience and adaptability of markets that must be kept open to avoid stagnation of economic activity. He stressed that every week without economic movement meant losing ground as diminishing purchasing power makes for a more difficult recovery.

The Secretary found it imperative for COVID-19 to lead the agenda of the 15th East Asia Summit. He emphasized the need for fresh thinking on solutions to the impact of the pandemic on the global economy. He also underscored the pandemic’s wide security implications.

Secretary Locsin also noted that the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific is premised on ASEAN being in the driver’s seat in the region’s security architecture, based on the principles of inclusiveness, openness, cooperation and respect for international law. He expressed the hope that Russia as a Pacific power contributes to shoring up this regional architecture.

At the Special ASEAN-Russia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, many Ministers expressed their desire to step up economic recovery plans alongside sustained focus on health management so that the region emerges stronger from the crisis. The Ministers agreed to use ASEAN-led regional mechanisms to put forward people-centered policies in responding to pandemics, ensuring that people are equally provided with health care, treatment and consular assistance, while maintaining the momentum of economic integration and openness in the region with unimpeded trade and supply chain connectivity.

Foreign Minister Lavrov assured ASEAN of Russia’s commitment to the ASEAN-Russia Strategic Partnership. He also noted that “Pandemics affect global politics significantly” and affirmed Russia’s commitment to pursue a collective response to prevent, control, and contain infectious diseases with ASEAN using ASEAN-led mechanisms. He also recognized the substantial efforts of regional organizations in pursuing efforts to curb COVID-19.

Both sides emphasized that the pandemic should not weaken, but instead bolster, the ASEAN-Russia partnership, and that continuously strengthening cooperation is key to overcoming the unprecedented and multidimensional challenge of COVID-19. Secretary Locsin observed that, “We have entered a brave new world in the writer’s original sense: a world that will need bravery to survive, courage to dare, and above all trust among everyone to prevail.” END

A Brave New World. Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. delivering Philippine interventions during the Special ASEAN-Russia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on COVID-19. On the challenges that beset ASEAN-Russia cooperation, the Secretary told the meeting that “We have entered a Brave New World in the writer’s original sense: a world that will need bravery to survive; courage to dare; and above all trust among everyone to prevail.”