NDO/VNA – Malaysia pledged to work closely with other ASEAN member nations in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, said Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah.

Saifuddin made the promise on November 9 as he has been accompanying Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri on an official visit to Indonesia.

He said that ASEAN Health Ministers have regularly discussed and exchanged information on COVID-19 response measures.

The ASEAN member nations are always wary of new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and also very optimistic about the effectiveness of vaccination programmes against COVID-19, he added.

Earlier, Saifuddin met with a number of representatives of Indonesian agencies and organisations to share ideas about cultural diplomacy - a new initiative he is chairing at the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.