"Acting alone futile in fighting COVID-19": Philippine President

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday that regional cooperation is the key to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic, saying acting alone is futile.

"Going it alone is an exercise in futility and absurdity. There can be no victory if we do not defeat the virus everywhere. We have to choose the intelligent and productive path of cooperation. It is the only way," Duterte said in a speech during a special summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ASEAN Plus Three or APT) on COVID-19 via video link.

Duterte thanked China, Japan and South Korea for choosing the path of cooperation.

"We are grateful for your timely and generous assistance in our time of great need especially those on the end of the line," Duterte said.

Duterte said that the COVID-19 pandemic "is shaking the very foundations of our lives in a way we have never seen before and at such staggering costs."

"It lays bare the fragility of our interdependent world, the frailties of our societies, and the vulnerabilities of our institutions," he said.

Duterte stressed the need to continue working together "to end this pandemic with finality."

"Our most urgent priority is strengthening the capacity of our healthcare systems," he said.

He urged the region to act for increased production and facilitation of trade of vital medical equipment and supplies.

"We support the creation of regional reserves of medical supplies to better equip us in this fight," he said.

Duterte also stressed the need to ensure food security and to keep ASEAN markets open and ensure supply chain connectivity.

"We must also utilize existing mechanisms, such as the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve," Duterte said.

"This is an opportunity for us to establish a 'new normal' using lessons learned from this and other crises," he said, adding that "the world after COVID-19 need not be a lesser version of the one before it."

"The elements of international cooperation that will allow us to overcome this challenge will form the basis of how we will engage one another as we create a more resilient world," he added.

"The Philippines can only heal together as one country. ASEAN can only recover as one region. The world can only bounce back stronger as one global community," Duterte concluded in his speech.