Working together to ensure recovery from Covid-19

By Adib Povera

April 14, 2020 @ 9:18pm

KUALA LUMPUR: It is imperative for the 10-member Asean nation grouping to work closely with its Plus Three dialogue partners in ensuring that the Asia Pacific region recovers from the crisis brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the bloc’s Plus Three partners could also assist Asean member countries to develop a Post Covid-19 Economic Recovery Plan in its effort to revive the economies subsequently elevating the welfare of some 600 million people in the region.

The Plus Three dialogues partners are the People’s Republic of China, Japan, and Korea.

“This is imperative to maintain market stability and prevent the potential risks of an economic recession.

“A coordinated and integrated recovery plan will be fundamental to Asean’s future and resilience post Covid-19.

“As a regional force, we are deeply conscious that whatever we do will impact the Asia Pacific as a whole,” said the prime minister, at the Special Asean Plus Three Summit on Covid-19.

The one-off summit involving leaders of the regional bloc took place via video conferencing today.

The other regional leaders gathering was the Asean Special Summit on Covid-19, in which, Muhyiddin, proposed for Asean to develop an economic recovery plan post Covid-19.

Both the summits were chaired by Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. The Indochina nation is the Asean chair for 2020.

Asean member states and its Plus Three Partners, said Muhyiddin, can also learn from Japan, China and South Korea on measures introduced by these nations in dealing with the crisis during and post pandemic.

“We can learn from China regarding movement restrictions they had imposed in their provinces and what they have done after lifting these restrictions.

“With Japan, we can learn how they had managed to implement the largest stimulus package in the Asia Pacific and how we, as nations in Asean can extract what works for our nations.

“With ROK (Republic of Korea), their solutions for mass-testing will be very useful for us in Asean to learn from and implement in our nations,” he said.

Muhyiddin ended his intervention remarks by calling Asean member nations and its Plus Three Partners to jointly stabilise the manufacturing and supply of essential goods and services including vital medical supplies and critical agricultural products in the face of the crisis.

“Interdependence and unity is the order of the day and no nation can go successfully manoeuvre through this crisis alone.”