Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh on Oct 26 took part in the 38th and 39th ASEAN Summits and other related summits held virtually.
Chaired by Brunei Prime Minister Hassanal Bolkiah, the meetings were held under the theme“We Care, We Prepare, We Prosper”.
At their 38th Summit, ASEAN leaders highly valued progress in building ASEAN Community noting that major achievements have been made in various areas amid Covid-19 pandemic including the content preparation of the drat ASEAN Community’s Post-2025 Vision, the establishment of health facilities and Covid-19 response funds, the strengthening of cooperationon restoring connectivity, supply chain and people to people exchange in the region through ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework and the establishment of intra-ASEAN travel cooperation framework.
Sharing points of view on Covid-19 response, Prime Minister Phankham expressed gratitude to other ASEAN member countries for their provision of medical equipment, vaccines, and technical assistance to the Lao PDRto support its fight against Covid-19.
He urged ASEAN member states to continue to strengthen cooperation to fight the pandemicwhile strengthening health sector and have vaccine demands in each member state met.
He also informed the meeting that the Lao PDR has contributed 100,000 US dollars to COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund and 50,000 US dollars to the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA) to support humanitarian efforts in Myanmar.
The ASEAN leaders adopted several key documents includingthe Bandar Seri Begawan Declaration on the implementation of strategic and comprehensive initiatives to incorporate ASEAN cooperation frameworks for disaster and emergency response, ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on upholding multilateral cooperation principle, and ASEAN Leaders’ Declaration on the Blue Economy.
The leaders highly valued the role of ASEAN at regional and international arenawhich continues to draw attention from countries outside the bloc and this reflects in the fact that more and more countries outside the region are applying for membership of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) and for dialogue partnership status.
In this regard, Prime Minister Phankham urgedASEAN leaders to uphold the unanimity and solidarity among ASEAN members in cooperating with non-ASEAN countries to ensure ASEAN is a strong, sustainable community and plays a key role in promoting peace and cooperation for development in the world.
The ASEAN leaders also exchanged points of view on regional and international issues of common interest, along with terrorism and natural disasters, and climate change.
On the same day, Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh also led the delegation of senior officials of Laos in attending the 22nd ASEAN-RoK Summit, the 24th ASEAN-China Summit and the 9th ASEAN-US Summit.
Source: Lao News Agency