Hanoi (VNA) - ASEANcountries and partners that are members of the East Asia Summit (EAS) havecommitted to promoting substantive cooperation to enhance their responsivenessto and minimise the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

They made the pledge at the teleconferenced EASSenior Officials’ Meeting late on July 20, chaired by Deputy Foreign MinisterNguyen Quoc Dung from Vietnam, which is Chair of ASEAN and the EAS in 2020.

The summit was attended by representatives fromthe ten ASEAN members together with Australia, China, India, Japan, NewZealand, the Republic of Korea, Russia, and the US, along with an ASEAN DeputySecretary-General.

Participating countries reaffirmed that the EASis a forum for regional leaders to discuss strategic regional issues. Theyagreed to press on with current priority areas of cooperation, including the environment,energy, education, finance, healthcare, disease outbreak response, disastermanagement, connectivity, economy, trade, food security, and maritimecooperation.

On the occasion of the EAS’s 15th foundinganniversary, ASEAN and its partners in the forum agreed to work closely todevise directions for enhancing EAS’s role in the new circumstances, thusactively contributing to dialogue and cooperation to maintain peace, security,prosperity, and an effective response to emerging challenges in the region.

In particular, they unanimously supported severalproposed documents to be tabled at the 15th EAS, slated for October, which dealwith celebrating the EAS’s 15th anniversary, enhancing sustainable maritimecooperation, promoting stable regional economic growth, and women’s role in ensuringpeace and security.

The EAS partners affirmed that they attachimportance to ASEAN’s central role in the regional architecture and highlyvalue Vietnam’s ASEAN Chairmanship in coordinating the bloc and its partners’efforts to boost cooperation in response to COVID-19, such as the establishmentof the ASEAN COVID-19 Response Fund and a regional stockpile of medicalsupplies.

Meanwhile, ASEAN asked its partners to help it improvecapacity in preventive medicine while coordinating closely in information andexperience sharing, the development and production of COVID-19 vaccines andmedicine, the recovery and maintenance of economic connectivity, and the promotionof sustainable growth.

Countries also discussed regional andinternational issues of shared concern, including the situation on the KoreanPeninsula and in the East Sea, Rakhine State in Myanmar, and Hong Kong in China.

Regarding the East Sea issue, they emphasisedthe importance of peace, stability, security, safety, and freedom of navigationand aviation in the waters, which are of common interest to all.

Participants voiced concerns about recentdevelopments in the waters, which they said have negatively affected peace,security, and the rule of law in the region.

They stressed the necessity to promote dialogueand trust building; to refrain from actions that can escalate tensions orcomplicate the situation, militarisation, or the use of or threat to use force;and to resolve disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law,including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The countries also called on ASEAN and China tofully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties inthe East Sea (DOC) and strive to soon finalise an effective Code of Conduct(COC) that matches international law and are recognised by the internationalcommunity.

During the event, Deputy Foreign Minister NguyenQuoc Dung underlined the need to promote the EAS Chair’s coordinating role incooperation activities; improve coordination and complementarity between theEAS and other ASEAN-led mechanisms like the ASEAN Plus Three, the ASEANRegional Forum, and the Expanded ASEAN Maritime Forum; and foster the EAS’srole in responding to emerging challenges in the region.

In terms of the East Sea issue, he stressed theprincipled stance stated at the 36th ASEAN Summit, asking relevant parties torespect law, exercise self-restraint, not take actions that complicate thesituation, not carry out militarisation activities, and to settle disputes bypeaceful means.

The officials underscored the need to continuethe full and effective implementation of the DOC and to strive to overcomepandemic-induced difficulties so as to quickly finalise an efficient andeffective COC that is in line with international law, in particular the 1982UNCLOS, thus contributing to peace, security, and stability in the East Sea andthe region./.