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SINGAPORE – The gradual resumption of travel will enable economic recovery and boost business confidence in Southeast Asia, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Saturday (Nov 14), urging Australia and New Zealand to lift restrictions. to the Asean countries.
Speaking in separate virtual dialogues between the regional bloc and the two countries, Prime Minister Lee said that both sides should work to “lift travel restrictions progressively and safely,” with the Covid-19 situation stabilizing.
He also called for cooperation in the development and supply of Covid-19 vaccines, and in economic recovery by maintaining a rules-based system with open supply chains.
“Reopening our borders in a secure and calibrated manner will facilitate the resumption of economic activity and is an important marker of confidence for our peoples and businesses,” Prime Minister Lee said during the second ASEAN-Australia Biennial Summit.
At the Asean-New Zealand Leaders Summit, Prime Minister Lee said Singapore has lifted border restrictions to allow visitors from Australia and New Zealand, and he hopes the two countries will do the same soon.
To allow a new normal for the pandemic to emerge, he said countries must work together to ensure “an equitable, effective and sustainable supply of treatments and vaccines.”
He noted that Singapore, Australia and New Zealand support “vaccine multilateralism” and are Friends of the Covax Facility.
The Covax scheme, or Covid-19 Vaccine Global Access, aims to provide Covid-19 vaccines for the 76 countries involved, along with 92 other poorer countries supported by the scheme.
“We must complement that with cooperation in vaccine research and development, and increasing our vaccine manufacturing capabilities to support regional demand,” said PM Lee during the meeting with New Zealand.
On economic recovery, he reaffirmed Singapore’s commitment to uphold “a free, open and rules-based multilateral trading system and to maintain supply chain connectivity”, citing the signing of Sunday (November 15) of the 15-member Regional Comprehensive Economic Association as an important step forward.
He also cited the joint ministerial statement issued by Singapore and New Zealand on March 20 that affirmed a commitment to ensuring supply chain connectivity amid the pandemic, and said that more countries, including ASEAN member states, have supported the statement ever since.
Prime Minister Lee called on all parties to move forward with the General Review of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the most comprehensive FTA that ASEAN has concluded to date and which may be “a pioneer for future FTAs ”.
During the meeting with New Zealand, Prime Minister Lee also congratulated Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on her “resounding victory” in the recent general election.
The Ardern Labor Party won the October 17 elections with the biggest victory in half a century, gaining an absolute majority in Parliament.
In his speech, Prime Minister Lee said that the Asean-New Zealand relationship has progressed steadily over the past 45 years.
Both have been strategic partners since 2015. They have successfully implemented all the lines of action of the ASEAN-New Zealand Action Plan from 2016 to 2020, and have finalized the Action Plan for the next five years.
Asean and Australia have been strategic partners since 2014, and have completed all the lines of action of the first Asean-Australia Strategic Partnership Action Plan that ended in 2018, Prime Minister Lee said during the meeting with Australia, which was attended by the Prime Minister Scott Morrison. .
“Now that we face the common scourge of Covid-19, Australia has been a reliable partner. Our officials and ministers have been in close contact throughout the year, including through the ASEAN Special Meeting of Foreign Ministers- Australia on Covid-19 convened in June, “said PM Lee.
He added that Australia has supported recovery and response plans to the Asean pandemic, for example, by contributing to the Covid-19 Asean Response Fund, other initiatives in health security, economic recovery and stability, and through Phase II of the Program. of Asean-Australia Development Cooperation.
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