ASEAN against Covid-19: To be safe, we must unite

Three keynote speakers of the panel discussion

The seminar heard 03 main presentations from speakers: Ms. Caitlin Wiesen, Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Vietnam (“Looking over Fences”); Mr. Tan Weiming, Deputy Ambassador of Singapore to Vietnam (“Singapore's Covid-19 Response Strategy”); Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Huy Hoang, Director of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (“Impact of Covid-19 pandemic and ASEAN response”).

Experts shared information reflecting the serious impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on ASEAN countries in terms of economy, society, and social security; assessed the effectiveness of common solutions implemented by the ASEAN community to respond to the pandemic; analyzed lessons learned from successful countries in controlling the epidemic; affirmed the important role of solidarity, cooperation and regional ASEAN action programs to repel Covid-19 and build a post-pandemic development scenario...

Vice Principal Dao Thanh Truong delivered the opening speech at the seminar.

The Covid-19 pandemic is considered the greatest non-traditional security threat to humanity since World War II. As of May 21, 2021, after about a year and a half of the pandemic, the 10 ASEAN countries have had 3,776,442 infections, including 74,782 deaths. All ASEAN members have been severely affected by the pandemic in economic, social and population aspects. Economically, the pandemic has severely affected many manufacturing and service industries, causing a "freeze" of the tourism industry, production supply chains and labor supply. Socially, the pandemic has caused social unrest, public health crises, panic and threatened the peace of life. Population-wise, the pandemic has disrupted people's lives, reduced income, and caused unemployment and poverty for a part of the population. The ASEAN regional economy faces a severe recession as ASEAN's economic growth in 2020 plummeted from 4.6% in 2019 to -4.2%. Countries with deep economic declines include Singapore (-6.1%), Thailand (-6.8%), and the Philippines (-7.6%). As soon as the Covid-19 pandemic emerged, ASEAN took a series of timely response actions. On February 3, 2020, just 4 days after China informed WHO about Covid-19, the ASEAN Secretariat's Health Department informed the organization's senior health officials about the new virus. ASEAN soonChairman's Statement on ASEAN Collective Response to Covid-19on February 14, 2010.

Diversity in unity, ASEAN member countries have different approaches in controlling the epidemic and restoring the economy, from closing borders, tracing and testing the community, limiting contact and implementing social distancing, vaccinating, creating community immunity to launching economic stimulus packages, social support programs, accelerating digital transformation and technology application...

In that context, as the rotating Chair of ASEAN, in 2020, Vietnam conducted all ASEAN meetings online for the first time. Under Vietnam's leadership, ASEAN adopted a series of important documents and contents such as:Mid-term review report of master plans for implementing the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, agreed on the need to conduct a review of the implementationASEAN Charter, throughHanoi Declaration on ASEAN Community Vision beyond 2025, throughA Report on ASEAN Identityand outHanoi Declaration on Strengthening Social Work towards a Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN Community.

Dr. Nguyen Hung Son - Deputy Director of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam

Vietnam also successfully organized the first ASEAN Women Leaders Summit. Under Vietnam's leadership, many initiatives on cooperation in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic were announced and implemented such as:ASEAN Covid-19 Response Fund,Regional emergency medical supplies warehouse,ASEAN Strategic Framework for Responding to Public Health Emergenciesand the ASEAN Medical Center for responding to public health emergencies and emerging diseases... Not only fulfilling its role as ASEAN Chair, Vietnam has also emerged as a model with effective Covid-19 response solutions based on choosing the goal of putting people's health and safety first. Vietnam has responded quickly and persistently with contact tracing, zoning and thoroughly quarantining infected cases; transparent information and timely communication about the government's solutions. The people's trust and support for the Government in the fight against Covid is an important factor for Vietnam's initial results, thereby minimizing the negative impact on the economy. Therefore, Vietnam is the only positive growth economy in ASEAN in 2020.

Mr. Tan Weiming, Deputy Ambassador of Singapore to Vietnam

According to Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Minh, "Strengthening and building trust based on transparency, accountability and for the people is the key to help Vietnam and ASEAN countries effectively fight the Covid-19 pandemic in the coming time". Or Singapore is the country with the highest Covid-19 testing and vaccination rate in the region - a weapon for this country to effectively fight the pandemic. According to Mr. Tan Weiming, Deputy Ambassador of Singapore to Vietnam, Singapore has succeeded in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic thanks to a gradual, cautious strategy consisting of 03 phases, in which phase 1 is "safe reopening", only allowing some activities; phase 2 is "safe transition" when allowing a wider reopening of social and economic activities and phase 3 is "safe people" when the country conducts vaccination combined with strict control measures of the source of infection, allowing selective activities to take place in the "new normal state".

“Want safety must unite” is the message that experts agreed and shared together at the Dialogue. Ms. Caitlin Wiesen, Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program in Vietnam expressed: “Therefore, I hope that ASEAN will emerge from the pandemic stronger, not weaker. And I am sure that UNDP will continue to support the Government of Vietnam and other countries to realize the multilateral and regional vision outlined last November with Vietnam as the chair.”

In the context of the pandemic continuing to have unpredictable developments, scientists recommend that ASEAN needs to be extremely cautious and raise vigilance. Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Huy Hoang, Director of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, emphasized: "ASEAN governments and people need to make more efforts and coordinate more closely, calling for the community's cooperation to quickly vaccinate the entire population, moving towards achieving community immunity...". The important thing is that the government and people will have to adapt to the "new normal", have a response scenario for the worst possible situations, control risks, vaccinate widely, create community immunity, aiming to achieve the dual goal of protecting people's health and safety but at the same time re-establishing social stability, serving the goal of economic growth and development. More than ever, ASEAN needs to unite to jointly implement common solutions at the regional level, share information, experience, and both material and spiritual resources to overcome Covid-19.

Dr. Lena - Faculty of International Studies, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU

Experts shared information reflecting the serious impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on ASEAN countries in terms of economy, society, and social security; assessed the effectiveness of common solutions implemented by the ASEAN community to respond to the pandemic; analyzed lessons learned from successful countries in controlling the epidemic; affirmed the important role of solidarity, cooperation and regional ASEAN action programs to repel Covid-19 and build a post-pandemic development scenario...