Jakarta (VNA) – A meeting ofambassadors of East Asia Summit (EAS) member countries took place in Jakarta,Indonesia, on February 13.

Ambassador Tran Duc Binh, head of the Vietnamesepermanent mission to ASEAN, chaired the event, the first of its kind underVietnam’s ASEAN Chairmanship Year 2020, aimed to review cooperation activitieswithin the framework of the EAS.

He highlighted the theme of a “Cohesive andResponsive ASEAN” and priorities Vietnam has set as Chair to promote the developmentof the ASEAN Community and step up relations with ASEAN partners for peace andsustainable development, as well as increase the constructive role of ASEAN inthe international community.

EAS countries welcomed this year’s theme andaffirmed their support for Vietnam’s priorities, saying they are ready to backASEAN and Vietnam in implementing these priorities along with initiatives andactivities proposed by Vietnam.

The meeting acknowledged and appreciated thepositive results of cooperation activities to implement decisions made bysenior leaders since 2005 and the Manila action plan for 2018-2022 to preventterrorism and cross-border crime, intensifying ASEAN connectivity, marinecooperation, and collaboration in information technology and communications,energy, the environment and natural disaster management.

Countries also emphasised the need to cooperatein potential fields such as finance, education, climate change adaptation,plastic waste treatment at sea, and health care.

Given the complicated developments of thecoronavirus disease (COVID-19), participating nations expressed their supportfor the Chinese government’s efforts to prevent the disease spread while stressingthe importance of sharing information and experience to cope with the virus.

Regarding the East Sea, participants said ASEANand China should reach an effective code of conduct in the East Sea (COC) inline with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of theSea (UNCLOS).

They emphasised the principles ofself-restraint, non-militarisation, settlement of disputes based oninternational law and UNCLOS, while avoiding actions that could increasetensions, undermine trust, and affect the process of negotiating the COC.

Established in 2005, the EAS now has 18 membercountries, including the 10 ASEAN states and their eight partners – Australia,China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russia and the US./.