, 19. August, # HD

H.E. U Wunna Maung Lwin, Union Minister for Foreign Affairs attends the Pledging Conference to support ASEAN’s Humanitarian Assistance to Myanmar (18-8-2021, Nay Pyi Taw) H.E. U Wunna Maung Lwin, Union Minister for Foreign Affairs attended the Pledging Conference to support ASEAN’s Humanitarian Assistance to Myanmar which was held via video conference at 12:30hrs on 18 August 2021, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nay Pyi Taw. The Pledging Conference was hosted by H.E. Dato Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General of ASEAN, as the ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance Coordinator (SG-AHAC), and was attended by H.E. Dato Erywan Pehin Yusof, Minister of Foreign Affairs II of Brunei Darussalam, and Special Envoy of the ASEAN Chair to Myanmar, H.E. Prak Sokhonn, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia, H.E. Retno Marsudi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, H.E. Teodoro L. Locsin Jr., Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, H.E. Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Singapore, H.E. Bui Thanh Son, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam , H.E. Thongphane Savanphet, Deputy Foreign Minister of Laos’ PDR and representatives from ASEAN Member States and its partners. The Secretary-General of ASEAN explained about the provision of ASEAN’s Humanitarian assistance to Myanmar which will be delivered through the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre), as per Point 4 of the Five-Point Consensus. He also explained that humanitarian assistance would be carried out in Myanmar through phases. In this regard, he explained that while Phase 1 of ASEAN’s humanitarian Assistance in Myanmar would be focusing on provision of immediate needs for COVID-19, Phase 2 would be focusing on provision of broader humanitarian needs. ASEAN Foreign Ministers and representatives from ASEAN Member States, partners and friends also discussed and exchanged views on the provision of humanitarian assistance to Myanmar, and expressed their keen interest to pledge and contribution of both cash and in-kind to Myanmar. Union Minister for Foreign Affairs extended his heartfelt gratitude to H.E. Dato Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General of ASEAN for holding this Pledging Conference. He also extended his appreciations to all the participants for the pledges and contributions they had made to assist Myanmar. Union Minister also apprised the meeting that with a view to struggling against pandemic, Myanmar has established the Central Committee on Prevention, Control and Treatment of COVID-19 for better addressing the pandemic. He then explained the meeting that Myanmar had been given priority to carry out all the necessary measures for the prevention, control and treatment of COVID-19 which were indeed needed for the people of Myanmar. However, he explained that Myanmar is still in need of vaccines, medicines, medical equipment, supplies and other related items to contain the