Inviting Chinese Foreign Minister To Overcome COVID-19 Vaccine Gap, Foreign Minister Retno: Indonesia Is Ready To Become A Production Hub Hub

Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia)

JAKARTA - Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi revealed the importance of international cooperation in completing the COVID-19 vaccination program, while mentioning Indonesia's readiness to become a hub in the production of COVID-19 vaccines.

This was conveyed by Foreign Minister Retno after the meeting of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi with ASEAN Foreign Ministers, in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of China's relations with ASEAN, during a virtual press conference Monday, June 7 evening.

Foreign Minister Retno emphasized that with the COVID-19 pandemic being far from over, the global vaccine gap increases the risk of prolonging the pandemic, including in the ASEAN region.

"Currently 75 percent of vaccines are enjoyed by 10 countries and only 0.4 percent are enjoyed by low-income countries. Meanwhile, ASEAN has so far only vaccinated 7.8 percent of its population," said Foreign Minister Retno.

"In this case, China plays a very important role in increasing vaccine cooperation. With the receipt of the WHO EUL approval for Sinopharm and Sinovac, it is hoped that China can cooperate in dose sharing, including through the COVAX Facility," he explained.

In the future, Foreign Minister Retno continued, cooperation between China and ASEAN is expected to increase, including support for the ASEAN COVID-19 Response Fund, sharing doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, the COVAX Facility, and increasing cooperation to increase production capacity by producing in other countries.

Meanwhile, in a separate meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Foreign Minister Retno welcomed the signing of the agreement on the establishment of the High Level Dialogue and Cooperation Mechanism, which was carried out between Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Panjaitan and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Huiyang, China on June 6.

"Indonesia hopes that this new format of dialogue will make it easier to coordinate various mutually beneficial cooperation in the implementation of a comprehensive strategic partnership between Indonesia and China," he said.

In addition, Foreign Minister Retno also emphasized the importance of continuing health and vaccine cooperation between China and Indonesia.

"I asked Foreign Minister Wang Yi to assign a team to discuss in detail, health cooperation, as discussed in Foreign Minister Wang Yi's last visit to Indonesia. Indonesia has conveyed its readiness to become a production hub for COVID-19 vaccines for the region," concluded Foreign Minister Retno. .