国际英语资讯:Spotlight: ASEAN nations join hands together to combat COVID-19_时事

国际英语资讯:Spotlight: ASEAN nations join hands together to combat COVID-19

On Feb. 20, foreign ministers of ASEAN and China met in the Lao capital of Vientiane for a Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers' Meeting on COVID-19, agreeing to step up cooperation in the region against the disease by sharing information and best practices in a timely manner, and strengthen cooperation within ASEAN-led mechanisms and with external partners to address COVID-19 in a comprehensive and effective manner.

They also vowed to foster cooperation in risk communication and community engagement readiness and response; accelerate policy dialogue and exchanges on the latest development of COVID-19 through existing mechanisms such as the ASEAN-China Health Ministers' Meeting and the ASEAN-China Senior Officials' Meeting on Health Development; and mitigate supply chain disruptions of urgent medical goods and promote research and development of medicines and vaccines.

On Feb. 19, ASEAN defense ministers issued a joint statement on defense cooperation against disease outbreaks after a meeting. According to the statement, the ministers resolved to enhance practical cooperation among ASEAN defense establishments to organize information and best practice sharing activities, and leverage the Network of ASEAN Chemical, Biological and Radiological Defense Experts to enhance professional linkages, and promote scientific cooperation to manage infectious disease outbreaks.

On Feb. 14, the ASEAN Chair 2020 issued the Chairman's Statement on ASEAN Collective Response to the Outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), reaffirming ASEAN's commitment to collectively respond to the COVID-19 outbreak.