Vietnam’s President Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) should look into the possibility of temporary waivers of Covid-19 vaccines patent.

Vietnam’s President Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the APEC meeting on July 16. Photo: VNA

Phuc made the statement at a virtual informal meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders on July 16 at the invitation by New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Speaking at the meeting, which was officially referred to only as an “informal leaders’ retreat on Covid-19”, the Vietnamese president said APEC needs to step up regional cooperation in technology transfer, capacity building for research, and production of vaccines as the region is home to many of the world’s top vaccine production and supply centers.

In addition, there should be APEC guidelines on sustaining supply chains during emergencies to maintain the flow of the regional economies and prevent disruptions of the regional and global supply chains as was the case in the past, he said.

With the mantra of “leaving no one behind”, APEC needs to quickly implement cooperation programs and policy coordination on assisting disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, improving the resilience and adaptability of businesses, especially MSMEs, to create more jobs and income, and up-skilling and re-skilling the workforce, and reducing the digital gap between urban and rural areas, and among the people.

Phuc highlighted the idea at the meeting whose joint statement emphasized the region’s commitments to accelerate the production and distribution of vaccines.

He added that Vietnam is making every effort to implement the dual goal of combating the pandemic and maintaining economic growth. “Let me take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude for the invaluable assistance extended by many APEC member economies thus far,” Phuc noted.

The meeting was reported by the Democracy Project, which aims to “further built the New Zealand prime minister’s reputation as a pragmatist and a coalition builder” gathered leaders of the world’s largest economies namely Joe Biden, Xi Jinping, and Vladimir Putin.