State President: APEC Members Needs To Boost Cooperation in Vaccine Production

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Photo: VGP

Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended and delivered a speech at a virtual informal meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders on July 16 at the invitation of APEC 2021 Chair - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, according to VNA. The event discussed the Covid-19 crisis and the acceleration of post-pandemic economic recovery in Asia Pacific.

Participating leaders affirmed the important role of cooperation and multilateral measures in together overcoming the health crisis, and boosting innovative, sustainable, inclusive, and secure economic recovery. They agreed on four action orientations for APEC in the coming time.

The first is supporting vaccine sharing between economies, calling for technology transfer, and strengthening a resilient health system in response to current and future crises.

APEC will step up the implementation of macroeconomic policies and policies to support women and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and respond to climate change in order to create jobs, improve economic productivity and boost innovation, thus facilitating the economic recovery process. It will also accelerate the digital transformation process and narrow the digital gap, including solutions to enhance digital skills for employees to participate in the new labor market.

APEC will facilitate the circulation of goods and services, ensure smooth operation of supply chains and support vaccine distribution while opening the door for cross-border traveling with medical safety ensured.

At the end of the meeting, the leaders agreed to adopt the APEC Leaders' Statement: Overcoming Covid-19 and Accelerating Economic Recovery.

Photo: VGP

According to Nhan Dan, while speaking at the meeting, Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that the response to the pandemic over the past year has left many lessons for APEC member economies, notably, the consensus and joining hands of the people and member economies in the implementation of comprehensive, scientific, multilateral and inclusive countermeasures.

The whole world will not be safe if there is one person or one economy that is unsafe in the pandemic. "This is the time for us to overcome differences and join hands to get through the crisis, restore stability to our people’s life, revive the world economy and lead it into a trajectory of sustainable and inclusive development," he said.

The Vietnamese State President proposed the three areas of cooperation.

Firstly, "as APEC is home to many of the world’s top vaccine production and supply centers, we need to step up regional cooperation in technology transfer, capacity building for research, and production of vaccines. Accordingly, we should look into the possibility of establishing a temporary APEC waiver of certain intellectual property protections on Covid-19 vaccines," he said.

Secondly, he proposed to develop an APEC guideline on sustaining supply chains during emergencies to maintain the flow of our economies and prevent disruptions of regional and global supply chains as was the case in the past, according to VOV.

Thirdly, it is necessary to quickly implement cooperation programs and policy coordination on (i) assisting disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, (ii) improving the resilience and adaptability of businesses, especially MSMEs, to create more jobs and income, and (iii) up-skilling and re-skilling the workforce, and reducing the digital gap between urban and rural areas, and among the people.

He also informed participants of Vietnam’s efforts to realize the dual goals of pandemic prevention and control, and economic development, while appreciating the support of the international community for the fight against Covid-19.

The leader also affirmed Vietnam's commitment to closely coordinate with other members to promote cooperation for a better future for all, Nhan Dan cited.

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