By Raynald C Rivera
The Peninsula
DOHA: Members of the Asean Committee in Doha (ACD) underpinned the importance of youth towards making Asean more united and relevant amid globalisation as they celebrated its 49th founding anniversary yesterday.
“The youth are the leaders of the future. You are our investment so you should know your role, your responsibility as well as what you can contribute to making Asean more united, more relevant in this very globalised world,” said Malaysian Ambassador Dato Ahmad Jazri Mohd Johar.
He was responding to a question from a student during a press conference attended by ambassadors and representatives of the embassies of the Asean member countries before the celebration at Philippine School Doha (PSD).
He urged the youth to embark on a journey towards a deeper understanding of the ten Asean member countries, joining hands with other youth in the region and representing the region in the world.
“Then the world will be able to see how united Asean is and how we are to be respected and not to be neglected. Our economy is a huge economy with great potential and our industries can collaborate to be a big economic machinery in the world,” he said.
Singapore Ambassador Wong Kwok Pun expressed the same view of the youth saying he wanted to see “the dynamism, vitality and optimism of Asean’s next generation.”
Ambassador Wong, who just finished his term as ACD chairman, underscored the importance of Asean youth to have an understanding of our own region looking on their similarities in terms of culture, language and other things they share.
ACD Chairman and Philippine Ambassador Wlfredo C Santos underlined that “the similarities the countries share culturally unite them, act as unifying bond that connect and benefit them. We are composed of 10 countries with 600 million population and our goal is to promote economic growth but also maintain peace, security and stability.”
He said ACD was conceived “not only to promote culture but also as a destination of trade, investment and tourism.” He lauded the former ACD chairman’s initiative in organising the Joint Asean-Qatar Chamber Business Forum which allowed to engage Asean businessmen with their Qatari counterparts.
“That was just the start, eventually the goal is make sure these exchanges will lead to concrete investment projects for the Asean region,” said Ambassador Santos.
An exhibition on the unique cultural aspects of each of the Asean members was also held.
