SINGAPORE — The Covid-19 pandemic took centre stage at the latest Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit, with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong urging member countries to work together to facilitate the production and distribution of vaccines to meet the region's needs, or what he calls "vaccine multilateralism".

Speaking at five different virtual meetings held on Thursday (Nov 12), Mr Lee’s main thrust throughout the summit, besides the need to co-operate for vaccine purposes, was how member countries also need to co-operate to quicken the recovery of their Covid-19 battered economies.

The various meetings on the first day of the 37th Asean Summit were held virtually over video conference — the second time for the 10-country bloc — as overseas travel has largely stopped due to the pandemic. The 36th Asean’s Summit was held online in June.

Besides meeting with the leaders of the other nine Asean countries, Mr Lee also had virtual meetings with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide and South Korean President Moon Jae-In. 

At the plenary session of the summit, Mr Lee announced that Singapore will be contributing US$100,000 (about S$135,000) to the Covid-19 Asean response fund, intended to help the regional grouping tackle the pandemic.

He said that Asean, under the leadership of Vietnam this year, has played an important role in combatting the pandemic, as the member nations helped one another to repatriate citizens stranded overseas. Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam make up Asean.

Mr Lee said that one immediate area where countries need to work together on is to “ensure the equitable, steady and affordable supply of vaccines once they are available”.

Asean countries also need to “redouble efforts” to increase the bloc’s competitiveness, which will catalyse its economic recovery, Mr Lee added.

During the Asean-China summit, Mr Lee said that China has been a “steadfast partner” in the region’s fight against the pandemic, and expresses his thanks to China for donating masks and personal protective equipment to Asean member countries.

Besides the pandemic, Mr Lee also highlighted how Asean has managed to make progress in its goals, especially with the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) by the end of this week.

RCEP is the world’s biggest trade pact, linking the Asean nations with Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea

In his meeting with Mr Modi, Mr Lee said he understands India’s decision not to sign the RCEP at this time, but said that Singapore will welcome India whenever it is ready.