MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte joined fellow heads of state as the 36th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit formally opened Friday morning.
Duterte, alongside other leaders attended the Asean opening ceremony via teleconferencing as Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc delivered his speech.
Vietnam is hosting the meeting as it assumed Asean’s chairmanship this year
With the theme “Cohesive and Responsive Asean,” Duterte and his counterparts in the region are expected to discuss initiatives and cooperation in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.
The leaders are likewise expected to tackle Asean’s transition to the “new normal” and its post-pandemic recovery measures.
In mid-April, the regional bloc already convened a series of online meetings on how to deal with the health crisis.
There are at least 136,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia with Indonesia reportedly having the most cases at over 50,000.