PH Participates in 3rd Meeting of ASEAN Coordinating Council Working Group on Public Health Emergencies
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Coordinating Council Working Group on Public Health Emergencies convenes online for the third time since its establishment this year to continue ASEAN’s work in collectively addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.
MANILA 03 September 2020 – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Member States forged ahead in their collective response to mitigate the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the region. The 3rd Meeting of the ASEAN Coordinating Council Working Group on Public Health Emergencies (ACCWG-PHE) on 01 September 2020 took stock of key initiatives such as establishing the ASEAN COVID-19 Response Fund, a regional reserve of medical supplies for public health emergencies, and standard operating procedures for public health emergencies, among others.
Philippine Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) Leader Ambassador Elizabeth P. Buensuceso recommended concrete ways forward to fast-track the implementation of the COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund and expressed support for initiatives in the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN BioDiaspora Regional Virtual Center.
Ambassador Buensuceso also highlighted the importance of sharing accurate real-time data across the region and reiterated the call of ASEAN Secretary-General Dato Lim Jock Hoi to go beyond business as usual and embark on more robust actions and initiatives in ASEAN.
The ACCWG-PHE agreed on the future direction of ASEAN’s new and ongoing initiatives which will be submitted in the coming week to the 27th ASEAN Coordinating Council composed of Foreign Ministers. Representatives from the ASEAN Senior Economic Officials’ Meeting (SEOM), ASEAN Senior Officials’ for the Socio-Cultural Community (SOCA), Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN (CPR), ASEAN Senior Officials for Health Development (SOMHD), and the ASEAN Secretariat were present during in the meeting.
The ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) gave a summary of their Pathway Towards Recovery and Hope for ASEAN report, which puts together recommendations aimed at saving lives and livelihoods in the region in support for the Hanoi Plan of Action on Strengthening ASEAN Economic Cooperation and Supply Chain Connectivity in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Aside from enhanced public-private partnership to collectively address the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ACCWG-PHE agreed to further engage ASEAN’s external partners in the comprehensive recovery of the region and explore collective bargaining to acquire vaccines at affordable prices. END
Philippine Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) leader, Ambassador Elizabeth P. Buensuceso participates in the Third Meeting of the ASEAN Coordinating Council Working Group on Public Health Emergencies held via video conference.