Locsin to raise vaccine access, SCS issues in meeting with Asean counterparts

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. (FILE) PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. will join the 54th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) in August, and will raise the need for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines as well as the South China Sea issue.

According to the Department Foreign Affairs (DFA), the AMM and related meetings will be held via video conferencing from August 2 to 6.

“The Foreign Ministers are expected to discuss pandemic response and recovery, and other international and regional issues,” the DFA said in a statement.

“Secretary Locsin will raise Philippine priorities in Asean such as equitable access to vaccines, pandemic recovery, and the South China Sea issue, among others, in these Foreign Minister-level meetings,” it added.

Aside from the AMM, other meetings include the Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting Interface with Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights Representatives, Meeting of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone Commission, according to the DFA.

Locsin will also join the 23rd Asean Political-Security Community Council Meeting, the 29th Asean Coordinating Council Meeting, Post Ministerial Conferences with Dialogue Partners, the 22nd Asean Plus Three Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the 11th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, and the 28th Asean Regional Forum.