6 July 2012, Phuket, Thailand

Transcription

1 Report of the 5 th ASEAN Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting Theme: ASEAN Community 2015: Opportunities and Challenges to Health 6 July 2012, Phuket, Thailand INTRODUCTION 1. The 5 th ASEAN Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting was held on 6 July 2012 in Phuket, Thailand. 2. The Meeting was attended by delegates from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Viet Nam, China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. Representatives of the ASEAN Secretariat were also in attendance. The list of delegates appears as Annex 1. AGENDA ITEM 1: OPENING REMARKS 1.1: Remarks from Out-going ASEAN Co-Chair 3. H.E. Gan Kim Yong, Minister of Health of Singapore, in his capacity as the outgoing ASEAN Co-Chair of the ASEAN Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting (APTHMM), welcomed the Plus Three Dialogue Partners to the Meeting and thanked them for their commitment in helping the region achieve a healthier ASEAN. He outlined the following common areas of priority and interest, mainly infectious diseases, partnership laboratories, risk communications, pandemic preparedness and response and non-communicable diseases, and noted the progress that has already been made in some of these areas. He added that the ASEAN Plus Three Health Policy Fellowship attachment Programme, proposed by Singapore at the 10 th AHMM with the aim of exchanging healthcare knowledge, had already begun with Member States and would extended to our Plus Three Partners shortly. 1.2: Remarks from Host 4. H.E. Wittaya Buranasiri, the Minister of Public Health of Thailand, in his capacity as Host, welcomed all delegates and related the general discussion that transpired during the 11 th AHMM. He hoped that the APTHMM will likewise have a productive discussion and valuable output. 5 TH ASEAN Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting, 6 July 2012, Phuket, Thailand Page 1 of 11

2 1.3: Remarks from Out-going Plus Three Co-Chair 5. H.E. Prof. Huang Jiefu, Vice Minister of Health of China, in his capacity as the outgoing Co-Chair of the APTHMM, expressed his appreciation in the progress made by the APTHMM. He stressed that the region is facing challenges and he wish that 10+3 countries work together to meet challenges and to promote health in the region. He hoped APTHMM will have fruitful discussion to address these challenges. AGENDA ITEM 2: ELECTION OF CO-CHAIRS 6. H.E Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Health of Singapore, handed over the ASEAN Co-chairmanship to H.E Wittaya Buranasiri, the Minister of Public Health of Thailand. H.E Prof Huang Jiefu, the Vice Minister of Health of China, handed over the Plus Three Co-chairmanship to H.E. Ms. Kazue Fujita of Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan. 2.1 Remarks from Incoming ASEAN Co-Chair 7. H.E Wittaya Buranasiri, the Minister of Public Health of Thailand, as the new ASEAN Co-Chair, delivered his remarks. He welcomed the Health Ministers from ASEAN Plus Three countries. He also mentioned the good opportunity he experienced during the 11 th AHMM in meeting and sharing experiences with the rest of the Health Ministers. He also expressed hope that the ASEAN Plus Three will continue the collaboration it has already started. He then invited the Health Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan to give some remarks. 2.2 Remarks from Incoming Plus Three Co-Chair 8. H.E. Kazue Fujita of the Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan, as the new Plus Three Co-chair, delivered her remark. She sincerely thanked the current collaboration among ASEAN Plus Three countries and appreciated the expected good results from the Meeting. Japan welcomed the active round table discussion on achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). AGENDA ITEM 3: ADOPTION OF AGENDA 9. The Meeting adopted the agenda, which appears as Annex 2. AGENDA ITEM 4: BUSINESS ARRANGEMENTS 10. The Meeting was held in a plenary. 5 TH ASEAN Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting, 6 July 2012, Phuket, Thailand Page 2 of 11

3 AGENDA ITEM 5: SUMMARY OF THE ASEAN HEALTH MINISTERS VIEWS ON 11 th ASEAN HEALTH MINISTERS MEETING THEME 11. The ASEAN Co-Chair presented the summary of ASEAN Health Ministers views on the theme of 11 th ASEAN Health Ministers Meeting which is ASEAN Community 2015: Opportunities and Challenges in Health. Health Ministers shared both concerns and responses. Concerns include the following: a. Both opportunities and challenges to health of being an ASEAN Community need integrated approaches to minimize any negative impact. ASEAN must remain vigilant and join effort to respond to the challenges and threats to health in the region. b. Communicable diseases such as emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, pandemics across borders, Hepatitis, Malaria especially Artemisinin-resistant require collective collaboration among ASEAN. c. Non-communicable chronic diseases, due to economic prosperity and easily exposure to some harmful products, become the main challenges, especially in the context of new lifestyle and behaviors of the people. d. UHC enables ASEAN people to have better access to affordable quality healthcare. One remaining challenge is on the accessibility to health services of migrants. e. We need fast track in achieving MDGs by 2015 by many means i.e. health system reform, core-competencies for surveillance and responses according to the International Health Regulations (IHRs) and strengthening the global partnership for development. 12. Health Ministers expressed main activities to respond to the challenges in health which are: ASEAN Health Ministers need to influence other Ministers for stronger political commitments and investment from the Government for the health sector in addressing the upcoming challenges. Senior Health Officials, SOMHD and its subsidiary to actively continue implementing their respective work plans, enhancing multisectoral stakeholder engagement, information sharing, mobilize technical and financial support from members and dialogue partners. ASEAN Member States (AMS) need to strengthen the ASEAN Secretariat to jointly work with the AMS in overcoming these challenges, and at the same time, promote a sense of both belonging and identity among ASEAN people. 13. The full texts of the summary of views appear as Annex 3. In addition, Philippines informed that Philippines will host the ASEAN NCD Forum in Manila in April It provides an opportunity to gather and have stronger collaboration together. 5 TH ASEAN Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting, 6 July 2012, Phuket, Thailand Page 3 of 11

4 AGENDA ITEM 6: China STATEMENTS OF HEAD OF DELEGATIONS OF THE PLUS THREE COUNTRIES ON 11 th ASEAN HEALTH MINISTERS MEETING THEME 14. H.E Prof Huang Jiefu, Vice Minister of Health of China expressed that all countries in ASEAN and Plus Three are close neighbors. At present, the region is facing many challenges in health e.g. the advent of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, the high prevalence of NCDs, and the upsurge of aging population. As a result, ASEAN Plus Three countries should have more effective health cooperation through various fields e.g. public health, human resources, FETN, traditional medicine, infectious diseases, and pandemic working group. China cordially invited ASEAN and Plus Three countries to participate in many coming meetings e.g. the pro-poor health system and policy meeting, August 2012, the dentistry meeting, September 2012 and public health personnel meeting, October In conclusion, China is looking forward to promote health of the population in this region and supporting the ASEAN framework and East Asia summit. The full texts of the statement appear as Annex 4. Japan 15. In her statement, H.E. Kazue Fujita of Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, said that infectious diseases were still severe threat for all people in region and to address these infectious diseases was essential for ASEAN integration. Japan is now the most aged society in the world and the reason why Japan has attained the highest health standard is the attainment of UHC. She also mentioned that NCD was now major health problem in Japan. Japan has Health Japan 21 which is comprehensive NCD strategy and covers many program and activities. Japan has provided many technical supports for ASEAN countries through JICA and National Institute of Infectious Disease and National Institute of Public Health in many areas. Lastly she mentioned that ASEAN played a very important role to recover from current economic crisis and Japan would like to contribute ASEAN Plus three in health fields. The full texts of the statement appear as Annex 5. Korea 16. Korea representative, Mr. Tae Han Lee, Assistant Secretary of Health Care Policy, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea, expressed his honor to join and share Republic of Korea s experience, especially on the issue of UHC, in this meeting. Republic of Korea has achieved UHC to since 1989 and expanded the benefit packages to cover serious diseases in He raised the challenges of UHC on aging population and the rising trend of NCDs which need more investment on disease prevention and health promotion interventions. He confirmed that Korea is happy and willing to share its experiences on UHC with ASEAN countries, China and Japan. He supported that the ASEAN Plus Three to move towards UHC and Korea will actively support this movement. The full texts of the statement appear as Annex 6. 5 TH ASEAN Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting, 6 July 2012, Phuket, Thailand Page 4 of 11

5 AGENDA ITEM 7: CONSIDERATION OF THE REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF CO-CHAIRS OF PREPARATORY SENIOR OFFICIALS MEETING FOR THE 5 th ASEAN PLUS THREE HEALTH MINISTERS MEETING, 3 JULY The Meeting noted that the Preparatory Senior Officials Meeting for the 5 th ASEAN Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting held on 3 July 2012 had deliberated issues of strengthening the ASEAN Plus Three cooperation in health. The Meeting recalled that the 4 th ASEAN Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting discussed the importance of constructing the health cooperation anchored on more concrete deliverables and clearer points of accountabilities. Thailand s presentation regarding the above appears as Annex The Meeting agreed that the common collaborative areas among ASEAN Plus Three for include: Emerging Infectious Diseases (EIDs) ASEAN Partnership on Laboratory (APL) Risk communication, Preparedness and Responses (PPR) Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) 19. The Meeting agreed to strengthen the mechanism through framework of ASEAN Plus Three collaboration, rather than bilateral collaboration, with the specific recommendations as follows: a) Align collaborative areas with the 10 Work Plans of ASEAN subsidiary bodies on health b) Emphasise on joint collaborative efforts of the Plus Three as a whole, not an individual country c) Consider developing more programmatic activities to sustain cooperation in the health sector d) Specify the need for further institutional linkages 20. The Meeting adopted the report of the Preparatory Senior Officials Meeting for the 5 th ASEAN Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting, which appears as Annex 8. AGENDA ITEM 8: ASEAN PLUS THREE HEALTH MINISTERS MEETING ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION ON UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE 21. The Roundtable Discussion started with a briefing on the existing situation of health financing in ASEAN Plus Three countries, presented by Dr Peerapol Suthiwisesak, the Deputy Secretary General of National Health Security Office, (NHSO), Thailand. He gave the information on the population of ASEAN Plus Three which accounts for 1/3 of the world population. He emphasized huge differences in economic status among ASEAN+3 countries. Some countries already achieved UHC while some are moving towards UHC. 5 TH ASEAN Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting, 6 July 2012, Phuket, Thailand Page 5 of 11

6 22. He referred to WHO World Health Report 2010 and the Healthcare Financing Strategy of the Asia Pacific Region which point out that UHC is difficult to achieve when out-of-pocket health expenditure is greater than 30% of total health expenditure. The World Health Report 2010 also indicates that the government has many options to raise additional domestic funds for health e.g. to increase government expenditure on health to 15% of total government spending and to raise taxes on harmful products such as tobacco and alcohol. 23. UHC can improve better access to health services and protect people from catastrophic health expenditure and impoverishment. Access to essential high cost life saving services e.g. renal replacement therapy, cancer treatment and Anti-retroviral Therapy, have increased tremendously and saved lots of lives. 24. The presenters proposed two points for the Roundtable discussion. First, how are we going to mobilize more domestic resources to support UHC? Second, should ASEAN+3 formulate appropriate mechanisms for capacity building and monitoring the progress of UHC both UHC achievement and impacts. If yes, how and what that mechanism look like? His presentation appears as Annex The briefing was followed by exchange of information and experience among the Health Ministers regarding challenge and commitments in achieving UHC. Brunei Darussalam 26. Health Minister of Brunei Darussalam, H.E. Pehin Dato Adanan Yusof discussed the key challenge AMS were the limited resources such as human resources, infrastructures and health care financing. The strong government commitment in the provision, regulation and financing of health systems is very crucial. Clear national health policy objectives with a focus on values and principles of primary health care with particular target in women and children and those living in remote areas were essential. Priorities of improving health outcomes of the people and putting balance between tertiary, secondary, primary health care provision and health promotion should be addressed. Key major success factors of UHC include i) to create supportive and enabling environment, gain strong commitment and active engagement from all multi-sectoral stakeholders; ii) to strengthen institutional capacity for generation of information and formulation of policy and iii) to continue implementing MDGs indicators and having a guidance from WHO on relevant indicators including ratio of health professionals to populations. The details of his intervention appear as Annex 10. Cambodia 27. Health Minister of Cambodia, H.E. Dr. Mam Bunheng shared the view on the UHC covered three dimensions of population coverage, health service provision and financial protection. The Ministry of Health of Cambodia has developed and implemented the strategic framework for health financing to guide the development of health care financing system. He emphasized the need of more domestic resources. To reach the target, the equity fund and community financing schemes were needed to identify. The gap and weakness in health service delivery should be determined. In summary, the government of 5 TH ASEAN Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting, 6 July 2012, Phuket, Thailand Page 6 of 11

7 Cambodia has a strong commitment to achieve UHC. The details of his intervention appear as Annex 11. Indonesia 28. Health Minister of Indonesia, H.E. Dr. Nafsiah Mboi informed that out of 236 million Indonesia population, as many as 63.13% of them have been covered by various health insurance scheme. The rest 36.87, mostly of the informal sector will be covered in Indonesia has a strong commitment and political wills to achieve UHC by 2019 through social health insurance scheme. This includes integrating the existing health protection schemes into a single scheme, expanding the benefit package, covering the existing uninsured population, and subsidizing premiums for the poor by the government. Indonesia also focuses on health promotion and prevention which will contribute to reduce the number of people who need health services and in the end will result on the reduction of health cost. However, there are challenges that need to be tackled in order to achieve UHC which are the geographical and demographic situation, and a considerable variety of existing health insurance schemes. In conclusion, Indonesia fully supports the initiative that ASEAN Plus Three formulate appropriate mechanism for capacity building and collaboration, as well as development of UHC network among ASEAN Plus Three. The full texts of her intervention appear as Annex 12. Lao PDR 29. Health Minister of Lao PDR, H.E. Prof. Eksavang Vongvichit mentioned that health for all policy is to ensure all citizens to access to health services. They concern that equity is an important dimension in health financing. Previously, Lao PDR has 4 health insurance schemes managed by two ministries, the civil servant scheme and social security scheme by Ministry of Labour and community based health insurance and health equity fund by Ministry of Health. The Government has just approved new policy to merge these four schemes to be managed by Ministry of Health and aim to provide 50% subsidization for self-employees and 100% for vulnerable groups and the poor. He proposed that ASEAN and the Plus Three to work in collaboration and continue to strengthening the UHC by sharing lessons learn among member states. The details of his intervention appear as Annex 13. Malaysia 30. Health Minister of Malaysia, H.E. Dato Sri Liow Tiong Lai Liow presented that the health expenditure was 5% of GDP in Malaysia. Malaysia already achieved UHC through public healthcare providers. He raised the challenges to sustain and provide the accessible and effective health care services for all people. The health system needs to be designed to deal with the increasing trends and burden of NCDs. This leads to the need of proactive actions on the health system transformation/reform, including health financing reform. The focus will be more on public health services, the accountability of the system, and the quality of health services. In conclusion, Malaysia supports the moving towards UHC and highlights that the collaboration among ASEAN Plus Three will be benefit the countries and their population. The full texts of his intervention appears as Annex TH ASEAN Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting, 6 July 2012, Phuket, Thailand Page 7 of 11

8 Myanmar 31. Health Minister of Myanmar, H.E. Dr. Pe Thet Khin shared the current situation in Myanmar and showed the commitment to strengthen the health systems financing to increase the accessibility to health services of the people, in particular the poor. He shared the situation of Myanmar that out-of-pocket is still high at 80% of total health expenditure and the government spending on health is still low at 3% of total government budget, although it increased four times from the previous year. Myanmar confirmed to strengthen the existing health system. Myanmar is implementing pilot projects of many health insurance schemes. In summary, Myanmar confirmed its support on UHC concept and Myanmar is interested to collaborate and support the ASEAN Plus Three UHC Network. The minutiae of his intervention appear as Annex 15. The Philippines 32. Dr. Enrique Tayag, Assistant Secretary, Cluster Head, Support to Service Delivery and Director IV, National Epidemiology Center, Department of Health, Philippine on behalf of H.E Dr. Enrique T. Ona, Secretary of Health Philippines informed the situation of health insurance and health financing in the Philippines, including the initiative on no balance billing policy. The Philippines support the concept of moving towards UHC by reducing out-of-pocket expenditure on health and at the same time to increase domestic resources e.g. sin tax. In addition, the Philippines proposed that UHC should be monitored at least three points which are equitable access, affordable health system and quality services by measuring utilization rate, out-of-pocket as % of total health expenditure (less than 30%), patient satisfactory, respectively. The details of his intervention appear as Annex 16. Singapore 33. H.E. Mr. Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Health of Singapore, explained that Singapore aimed to provide good quality healthcare that is accessible and affordable to all, and in a sustainable way. To achieve sustainable universal health coverage, he said that Singapore looked beyond insurance, and adopted an integrated approach, which includes direct government subsidies, personal medical savings and a social safety net, in addition to the insurance programme. This ensured that no Singaporean would be deprived of needed medical care for lack of means. To meet the health financing needs of an ageing population, the Singapore government will also double its annual healthcare budget from US$3.2 billion to US$6.3 billion over the next 5 years. The full texts of his intervention appear as Annex 17. Thailand 34. H.E Wittaya Buranasiri, the Minister of Public Health of Thailand shared Thailand experience on UHC that Thailand has implemented UHC for a decade. One main observation is that it is not necessary to wait until countries will be rich to implement UHC. UHC needs the development in two strands, health system development and financial risk protection. He emphasized the capacity building on health system research which will provide evidence based policy decision. Thailand is happy to share its experience on UHC and to learn from other countries for the improvement of the Thai health care system. Thailand fully 5 TH ASEAN Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting, 6 July 2012, Phuket, Thailand Page 8 of 11

9 supports the ASEAN Plus Three countries to move towards UHC and the ASEAN Plus Three UHC Network. Finally, Thailand is ready to be the coordinator of the ASEAN Plus Three UHC Network. The minutiae of his intervention appear as Annex 18. Viet Nam 35. Health Minister of Viet Nam, H.E. Thi Kim Tien Nguyen, shared the concern the out of pocket spending of the poor, the vulnerable group, and other sub group population. The government committed to cover UHC to military and the vulnerable people, however the challenges are there for further works, for example, out of pocket expenditure on health as % of total health expenditure is still high. Viet Nam will reform the provider payment methods. She sincerely thanked to ASEAN PLUS Three countries for a kind technical support and experiences sharing, and Viet Nam strongly supports the ASEAN Plus Three Network on UHC. The details of her intervention appear as Annex 19. China 36. H.E Prof. Huang Jiefu, Vice Minister of Health China, informed that China launched the health care system reform in It aims to establish basic health care system which can provide safe, effective, convenient and affordable health service to all people both in urban and rural areas by It also reflects the prevention-oriented policy. In 2012, the out-of-pocket expenditure of China health system was at 35.3 % of total health expenditure. He expressed the importance of Universal Health Coverage. He suggested that international community should establish coordination mechanism on health research and financing at the global level to reduce the price of drugs and vaccines for better accessibility. He also emphasized the solidarity among developed and developing countries. Finally, he confirmed that China will continue to insist the concept of providing basic health care services as public goods to all people and China is willing to further promote the communication and share experiences with ASEAN, Japan and Korea, and work together for the well-being of people in this region. The full texts of his intervention appear as Annex 20. Japan 37. H.E. Kazue Fujitaof Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, shared the experiences how to establish universal health coverage in Japan,. The goal of the system is to provide health care service to all people equally with good quality. With limited resources, it is a challenge for the government to achieve the goal. Japan plans to increase tax and mobilize the expected budget into the system in order to strengthen and sustain the system. She highlighted the importance of learning experiences from each other among ASEAN Plus Three on how to establish and sustain UHC, and Japan is willing to share the experiences, technical supports to all member states. She has an opinion that the strategies depend on the countries context. Japan is willing to work more in collaboration and share the experiences with ASEAN Plus Three with some concerned issue like aging society. The details of her intervention appear as Annex TH ASEAN Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting, 6 July 2012, Phuket, Thailand Page 9 of 11

10 Korea 38. Korea delegate, Mr. Tae Han Lee, Assistant Secretary of Health Care Policy, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea shared Korea s experience in relation to universal health coverage. He presented the efforts to expand benefits by setting principles, criteria and priority in adjusting benefits based on social consensus, considering improvement of co-payment schemes and working to reform the payment system. He also mentioned about effort to increase investment in health promotion to sustain the Korea s health system.. The minutiae of his intervention appear as Annex 22. ASEAN Secretariat 39. H.E. Dato Misran Karmain, Deputy Secretary General of ASEAN for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community informed the Meeting that ASEAN already provided impetus as regards the concern of UHC through the two ASEAN declarations namely; the Declaration of ASEAN Health 2020 (2000, Yogyakarta); and Declaration of Health Lifestyle (Vientiene, 2002). The said declarations have been supported by the ASEAN Strategic Framework on Health Development The activities detailed in the focus area supports the ASEAN Socio Cultural Community Blueprints call for increasing access to health and promoting health lifestyle. Focal points from each ASEAN Member States for this focus area have already discussed a set of collective recommendations for increasing access to health and health services. One of these recommendations highlighted the need for sharing information on good initiatives on increasing access to health services among ASEAN Member States and Plus Three Countries. 40. Since the focus area of increasing access to health and health services is directly under the purview of Senior Officials Meeting on Health Development (SOMHD), there is a need also to come up also with ASEAN indicators to determine the progress of universal access to healthcare. Having a common set of indicator/s fulfills the expectations of our ASEAN Leaders to report on the progress of the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint by 2015 through the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Scorecard. 41. The Meeting appreciated and noted the statements by all Health Ministers of ASEAN+3 countries and ASEAN Secretariat. The Meeting well endorsed the direction of moving towards UHC of the ASEAN Plus Three and agreed to support the ASEAN Plus Three UHC Network, taking into account the offer from the chair for Thailand to be the coordinator of the network. AGENDA ITEM 9: CONSIDERATION AND ADOPTION OF JOINT STATEMENT OF 5 th ASEAN PLUS THREE HEALTH MINISTERS MEETING 42. The Meeting noted that the Preparatory Senior Officials Meeting for the 5 th ASEAN Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting had reviewed and made revisions to 5 TH ASEAN Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting, 6 July 2012, Phuket, Thailand Page 10 of 11

11 the draft Joint Statement. The Meeting endorsed the revised Joint Statement, which appears as Annex 23. It is indicated in the Joint Statement that the Meeting commits to collectively accelerate the progress towards UHC in all countries by tasking the ASEAN Plus Three SOMHD to discuss the formation of an ASEAN Plus Three network on UHC. AGENDA ITEM 10: OTHER MATTERS 43. There were no other matters discussed. AGENDA ITEM 11: DATE AND VENUE OF THE 6 th ASEAN PLUS THREE HEALTH MINISTERS MEETING, The Meeting was informed by Viet Nam, as the next country in line, that the 6 th ASEAN Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting will be held during the first week of August 2014 in Da Lat, Viet Nam. Viet Nam presentation regarding this matter appears as Annex 24. Viet Nam will inform the ASEAN Plus Three countries in due course regarding the venue, the tentative agenda and other logistics. Action Line: Viet Nam ASEAN Secretariat AGENDA ITEM 12: CONSIDERATION AND ADOPTION OF THE REPORT OF THE 5 th ASEAN PLUS THREE HEALTH MINISTERS MEETING 45. The Meeting adopted the Report of the 5 th ASEAN Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting held on 6 July 2012 in Phuket, Thailand. AGENDA ITEM 13: CLOSING 46. H.E Wittaya Buranasiri, the Minister of Public Health of Thailand, in his capacity as ASEAN Co-Chair, thanked the support rendered by all ASEAN Plus Three delegates in the deliberations of the Meeting. 47. The Meeting was held in the traditional spirit of ASEAN Plus Three solidarity and cordiality. 5 TH ASEAN Plus Three Health Ministers Meeting, 6 July 2012, Phuket, Thailand Page 11 of 11