Cambodia, Laos highlight importance of multilateral cooperation in COVID-19 battle

Cambodia, Laos highlight importance of multilateral cooperation in COVID-19 battle

The Prime Ministers of Cambodia and Laos stressed the importance of multilateral cooperation in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in their messages sent to the UN General Assembly’s special session on the pandemic response on December 4.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen told the session that the COVID-19 pandemic should not be politicised as solidarity and unity are indispensable to defeat the disease.

The battle against the COVID-19 should not be taken by any country as its own geo-political agenda, he stated, adding that the regional and global solidarity and unity are indispensable elements during such a crisis period.

Hun Sen said the fight against this global pandemic requires a joint prudent decision-making, within the framework of multilateralism, by respecting international laws and sovereignty of each individual nation with the United Nations and the World Health Organization as the core agencies.

In his pre-recorded video statement at this session, Lao PM Thongloun Sisoulith highlighted the importance of multilateral cooperation in developing vaccine against COVID-19 and providing it at a reasonable price.

He called on the international community to support COVAX – a WHO initiative helping ensure a fair access to vaccines against COVID-19.

He said that the Lao Government has imposed prevention and control measures strictly to bring the disease under control, citing statistics as saying that Lao has so far recorded 39 infection cases and no fatalities. VNA