Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc announes Việt Nam's donation at the 37th ASEAN Summit. — VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam will donate healthcare equipment worth US$5 million to the regional medical supply reserve and contribute $100,000 to the ASEAN’s COVID-19 Response Fund, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc announced on Thursday at the 37th ASEAN Summit.

PM Phúc proposed a comprehensive and synchronised approach to control the pandemic, calling for the engagement of the whole community to protect people’s lives and promote a thorough recovery.

The ASEAN Regional Centre for Public Health Emergencies and Emerging Diseases was launched the same day with the assistance of Japan.

During the summit, ASEAN leaders also launched the ASEAN Strategic Framework on Public Health Emergencies and agreed to promote the operation of ASEAN’s COVID-19 Response Fund.

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong emphasised that ASEAN needs to ensure “an equitable, steady and affordable supply of COVID-19 vaccines for its people once these are available”.

He made the call for "vaccine multilateralism" as he stressed the importance of regional co-operation to mitigate the pandemic's long-term impact at the meeting held remotely this year.

Singapore supports global vaccine initiatives such as the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) Facility, whose members include many ASEAN states as well as the country's external partners, he said.

“Many leading vaccine candidates are being developed by our external partners, as well as our ASEAN member states too. We should work with them to facilitate the production and distribution of vaccines to meet the needs of our region,” he said while committing Singapore’s donation of $100,000 to ASEAN’s COVID-19 Response Fund. — VNS