ASEAN health ministers to hold talks in Malaysia<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
Southeast Asian health ministers will gather here on Saturday for
\na meeting to discuss ways of combating the SARS virus, a
\nMalaysian minister said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Health Minister Chua Jui Meng said ministers from China, Hong
\nKong, South Korea and Japan have also been invited to the
\nmeeting, which would be opened by acting Prime Minister Abdullah
\nAhmad Badawi.<\/p>\n
Chua said the meeting would discuss the need to impose health
\ndeclaration cards for visitors from East Asia as well as sharing
\nlaboratories to fight the spread of the Severe Acute Respiratory
\nSyndrome (SARS) virus.<\/p>\n
They would also focus on airport control measures, especially
\non improving the screening of travelers, he was quoted as saying
\nby Bernama news agency.<\/p>\n
Senior officials would meet on Friday to lay the groundwork
\nfor the ministerial meeting to be held at the administrative
\ncapital of Putrajaya.<\/p>\n
Chua said ministers from Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei
\nand Indonesia have so far confirmed their attendance.<\/p>\n
A declaration to be issued by the ministers would be submitted
\nto ASEAN leaders at their summit in Bangkok on April 29 to
\ndiscuss SARS, he added.<\/p>\n
All 10 ASEAN leaders are expected to attend the unprecedented
\nSARS summit in Bangkok next week, Thailand's foreign minister
\nsaid Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\"Every leader will come,\" Foreign Minister Surakiart
\nSathirathai told reporters.<\/p>\n
\"The prime minister has assigned me to coordinate with all
\nASEAN leaders and to my understanding all leaders including
\n(Myanmar's Senior General) Than Shwe, the Laotian prime minister
\nand President Megawati (Soekarnoputri of Indonesia) will attend
\nthe summit,\" he added.<\/p>\n
The rare emergency meeting on April 29 of ASEAN leaders to
\ndiscuss the SARS crisis was announced last week by Thailand at
\nSingapore's initiative, and will be chaired by Cambodian Prime
\nMinister Hun Sen.<\/p>\n
The Thai government said shortly afterward that Myanmar's Than
\nShwe would assign a deputy to attend the one-day meeting, to be
\nheld at the foreign ministry in Bangkok.<\/p>\n
Surakiart said Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who
\nis on an extended break before his retirement in October, would
\ndispatch acting prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to attend.<\/p>\n
\"Mahathir is on vacation, so his deputy Badawi will represent
\nMahathir at the summit,\" Surakiart said.<\/p>\n
Another ministerial meeting is expected to be held in Manila
\nahead of the summit, officials said.<\/p>\n
Five of the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations have
\nrecorded SARS deaths -- Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia
\nand the Philippines.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/asean-health-ministers-to-hold-talks-in-malaysia-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}