HA NOI, 3 NOVEMBER 2020 – The ASEAN Youth Leaders’ Conference brought together Youth Ministers from ASEAN Member States (AMS) to exchange perspectives on strengthening youth development in the region.
The National Committee on Youth of Vietnam hosted the conference and spearheaded the development of a joint ministerial statement, as part of Viet Nam’s 2020 ASEAN Chairmanship. Minister and Chairman of the Viet Nam Youth Federation and Permanent Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Nguyen Anh Tuan chaired the Conference.
In the opening session, Minister Nguyen noted that 2020 is a special year for ASEAN, as it marks the halfway point towards the ASEAN Community Vision 2025. However, the year was not without its challenges, since 2020 saw the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the region.
He underscored the youth’s contribution to national socio-economic development and the ASEAN Community. He commended the ASEAN youth’s strong spirit in confronting the COVID-19 outbreak despite being directly affected by its impacts.
On his part, Secretary-General of ASEAN Dato Lim Jock Hoi stressed that youth are front and centre of the future of ASEAN. He added that the meaningful and equal participation of all youth is critical to a robust post-pandemic region.
Further, he expressed confidence that Viet Nam will effectively empower Millennials and Generation Z-ers to lead ASEAN into a ‘cohesive and responsive ASEAN Community’, alluding to the theme of ASEAN 2020 Chairmanship.
At the conference, ASEAN Youth Ministers spoke on the state of youth affairs in their countries and how they intend to intensify regional cooperation in the youth sector.
Secretary-General Alounxai Sounnalath of the Lao Youth Union and Chair of the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Youth highlighted that COVID-19 could be regarded as an opportunity to accelerate ASEAN’s digital transformation. He strongly encouraged the involvement of youth from grassroots communities in designing and implementing cohesive and responsive youth development plans.
A number of common priorities and views could be gleaned from the Ministers’ statements. Recovery efforts in AMS focused primarily on providing youth with access to jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities through upskilling and reskilling programmes. Ministers also agreed that ASEAN should transform adversities into opportunities, particularly building youth agency in this time of crisis. This will mean harnessing youth-led actions and social innovations to address COVID-19.
To conclude the conference, the Ministers finalised the Joint Statement of ASEAN Youth Ministers on Enhancing Youth Cooperation for a Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN Community. The aspirations of ASEAN youth expressed in the ASEAN Youth Statement 2020 serve as the basis for the commitments contained in the joint ministerial statement. ASEAN youth representatives delivered the youth statement during their interface with the region’s leaders at the 36th ASEAN Summit in June 2020.
Promoting volunteerism, entrepreneurship, skills development for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and environmental sustainability are some of the future regional priorities stated in the joint statement. The statement will be elevated to ASEAN Leaders at the 37th ASEAN Summit this month.
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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) by the Founding Fathers of ASEAN: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam joined ASEAN on 7 January 1984, followed by Viet Nam on 28 July 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999, making up what is today the ten Member States of ASEAN.Menu - WHAT WE DO
ASEAN organs always strive to achieve ASEAN’s goals and objectives, the Secretary-General of ASEAN and the ASEAN Secretariat shall be functioned as coordinating Secretariat to help facilitate effective decision-making withing and amongst ASEAN bodies. In addition, each Member State shall appoint a Permanent Representative to liaise with Secretary-General of ASEAN and the ASEAN Secretariat
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ASEAN shall develop friendly relations and mutually beneficial dialogues, cooperation and partnerships with countries and sub-regional, regional and international organisations and institutions. This includes external partners, ASEAN entities, human rights bodies, non-ASEAN Member States Ambassadors to ASEAN, ASEAN committees in third countries and international organisations, as well as international / regional organisations.
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The rodmap for an ASEAN Community (2009-2015) was declared by the leaders in 2009. The ASEAN Community, anchored on three community pillars: Political-Security Community, Economic Community, Socio-Cultural Community was launched in 2015. The ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together was introduced in 2015 as a Post-2015 Vision. It comprises the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, the ASEAN Political-Security Community Blueprint 2025, the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint 2025 and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint 2025
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