Foreign Property News | Posted by Zarni Kyaw
The Republic of Korea (RoK) will provide $10 million for developing countries to ensure that residents of the Mekong countries can access any suitable vaccines through the COVID-19 Vaccines Advance Market Commitment (COVAX), RoK’s President Moon Jae-in said at the second Mekong-RoK Summit last Friday.
COVAX is a multilateral platform designed to fund coronavirus vaccine distribution to developing countries.
Moon highlighted the adoption of the Mekong-Han River Declaration for Establishing Partnership for People, Prosperity and Peace at the first Mekong-RoK Summit in Busan last year as a new step in co-operation.
This year, despite the pandemic, the countries have maintained their friendship and trust by providing test kits and sharing experience in disease prevention and control. Apart from infrastructure projects, the RoK and Mekong countries [Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Viet Nam] commit to working to beat the pandemic and building medical capacity, he said.
During the second summit, leaders of Mekong countries and the RoK agreed to elevate their bilateral relationships to a strategic partnership for people, prosperity and peace, focusing collaboration on seven prioritised areas (culture-tourism, infrastructure, information technology, agriculture and rural development, human resource development, environment and non-traditional security challenges), improve resilience of regional supply chains and facilitate activities of enterprises from six countries.
The RoK President praised the level of trade between South Korea and the five nations, which was similar to that of last year despite the rupture in global travel and shipments, thanks to the close cooperation in disease control and prevention.
Moon also said he would push for a bilateral project aimed at preserving the Mekong River’s ecological environment, managing its water resources and preventing natural disasters. Seoul will also seek to involve international organisations, such as the United Nations, in the project, he added.
“As part of the effort, we will continue to increase the level of the South Korea-Mekong co-operation fund as well as our overseas development assistance,” said Moon.
Ref: khmertimeskh
