HANOI, July 21 (Xinhua) -- The East Asia Summit (EAS) participating countries pledged to step up practical cooperation to enhance their capacity to respond to and minimize the negative impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic and promote sustainable recovery in the region at a meeting held via video link, Vietnam News Agency reported on Tuesday.

The countries also agreed to continue the effective implementation of prioritized cooperation fields including environment, energy, education, finance, health, epidemics, disaster management and food security at the East Asia Summit Senior Officials' Meeting (EAS SOM) held under the chair of Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung on Monday night.

The document proposals at the 15th East Asia Summit to be held in November 2020 were also agreed, the news agency reported, noting that they included proposals on the contents of the 15th anniversary of the EAS, promoting stable regional economic growth and improving the disease response capacity and the role of women in ensuring peace and security.

During the meeting, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) proposed to its EAS dialogue partners to support the bloc in improving preventive medicine capacity.

ASEAN also recommended its partners to cooperate closely in information sharing, experience exchange as well as research and production of preventive vaccines and COVID-19 treatment drugs, as well as in the overall efforts to restore and maintain economic links, ensure regional and global supply chains, promote recovery and sustainable growth.

The EAS is an annual meeting by leaders of 18 countries, including the 10 ASEAN member states and eight dialogue partners -- China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and the United States. Enditem

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