NOVO-OGARYOVO, October 27. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed to expand the program for training epidemiologists from ASEAN countries in Vladivostok.
"Of course, we are ready to trade expertise with interested countries on the practical issues of fighting the [coronavirus] infection," the Russian head of state said in a video address to the East Asia Summit on Wednesday.
"We can expand the program of training epidemiological experts from the ASEAN states at Vladivostok’s center for studying the issues of biological safety in the Asia-Pacific region," Putin noted.
He said that in November-December the center would hold "a new series of field-specific advanced training courses" and Russia expects to see the representatives of the region’s countries there.
According to Putin, "East Asian summits provide a good opportunity to discuss the situation in the Asia-Pacific region, map the paths of resolving the most pressing problems and develop the measures of support for peace and stability, for boosting mutually beneficial and multifaceted cooperation." "Our shared region, indeed, has become one of the most dynamic global centers of political, business and investment activity. At the same time, it also encounters serious challenges and threats in the sphere of security, economic, social development to which the coronavirus has been added over the past two years," the Russian president noted.
"It is quite logical that the summit is focusing precisely on the subject of fighting the pandemic, overcoming its consequences, on the issues of the implementation of the joint statement on cooperation along the anti-epidemic track adopted on Russia’s initiative at the previous meeting," Putin concluded.