KUANTAN: Discussions on post-Covid-19 recovery will take centre stage during the Asean Summit which will be held virtually and chaired by host Brunei at the end of this month.
Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said topics on the potential travel bubble, reopening borders through mutual recognition of vaccine certificates, and efforts to boost travel among Asean countries will be raised during the summit.
"Covid-19 will definitely be discussed as we are looking at reopening the country's borders hoping to revive tourism and allow people to travel around the region.
"In an effort to ease travel restrictions, among the topics that will be included are the travel bubble, and mutual recognition of Covid-19 vaccination certification," he told a press conference at a hotel here today.
Saifuddin said these topics were among the top agenda at the summit.
He said prior to the main summit, all Asean ministers, including those in charge of health, tourism and economic portfolios have held meetings and submitted reports to the Asean secretary-general.
Saifuddin, who is Indera Mahkota member of parliament, had earlier attended a press conference on the All-Party Parliamentary Group of Malaysia on Sustainable Development Goals (APPGM-SDG) for Indera Mahkota.
Also present was APPGM-SDG Head of the Secretariat Professor Datuk Dr. Denison Jayasooria.
Saifuddin was replying to a question if Asean member countries will raise matters to help expedite travel recovery and tourism during the upcoming Asean Summit held between Oct 26-28.
Meanwhile, Saifuddin said Asean foreign ministers during an emergency meeting yesterday had agreed to exclude Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlain from the summit and instead invite a non-political representative from Myanmar.
"The special envoy led by Brunei's second foreign affairs minister Erywan (Yusof) was supposed to visit Myanmar and meet all the stakeholders but it never happened. The envoy was not even granted access to meet Aung San Suu Kyi(ousted Myanmar leader).
"Malaysia supports the decision not to invite the junta leader and Myanmar to be represented by a non-political representative during the summit. There are no plans to sideline Myanmar but the junta has not given its cooperation so Asean has to make a clear stand and defend the credibility and integrity of its nine leaders," he said.
On a separate matter, Saiffudin clarified that he was not appointed to the cabinet under the Pakatan Harapan(PH) government in 2018 when Malaysia withdrew its application in the case of Pulau Batu Puteh, or Pedra Branca.
"Malaysia withdrew its bid to challenge the International Court of Justice(ICJ) ruling on May 28, 2018, and I took my oath of office (appointed as Foreign Minister) on July 2, 2018. I was not involved in the decision-making process.
"This is to clarify myself as some quarters have been asking what my role was on this matter," he said.
Last week Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said a special task force will be set up to conduct a comprehensive study and recommend necessary options by seeking the views of international legal experts on the Pedra Branca case.
In 2017, the Malaysian government filed an application for review of the decision of the ICJ on May 23, 2008, which ruled that Singapore had sovereignty over Pulau Batu Puteh.
In 2018, the PH government withdrew the application before the case was scheduled to be heard on June 11, 2018.