Tech-empowered youth to drive the ASEAN dream of connectivity and inclusion

Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 12 May . - (ANA) – The ASEAN vision of a more closely connected community that is focused on providing better lives for its people can be achieved through strong leadership in the region and effective public-private cooperation, the Co-Chairs of the 26th World Economic Forum on ASEAN agreed in the closing session of the meeting.
 
“The vision for ASEAN countries in the next decades is to have a really integrated economy to achieve the most economic gains for their people,” said Jin Liqun, President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Beijing. “The fundamental guarantee is the commitment of leaders to build such an integrated economy. I am struck by the consensus of the leaders on this dream. I hope it will be carried forward by the younger generations.”
 
A key part of the ASEAN dream must be inclusive connectivity, Wolfgang Jamann, Secretary-General and Chief Executive Officer of Care International in Switzerland, stressed. “The business of business is beyond business. But we must have a wider ambition. Inclusion must not stop at connecting rural areas, the underserved or the underbanked. We must also reach out to those who are being marginalized.” That includes women and girls, who make up half the population, Jamann noted.
 
John Rice, Hong Kong-based Vice-Chairman of GE, added: “Sustainable inclusive growth is much more than an idea; it is an imperative.”
 
This means focusing on education and skills development, Rice said. “We have to create jobs for the 21st century, for a digital world, a world that may not recognize the benefits of globalization or global trade. But no region has benefited more from them than ASEAN.” Tevin Vongvanich, Chief Executive Officer of PTT Public Company Limited in Thailand, said: “Traditional education would need to be reviewed and revised. Single-skill education would have to be changed to multiple skills.”
 
Fifty years since its founding, ASEAN should tap the energy and innovation of its tech-empowered young people, reckoned Tan Hooi Ling, Co-Founder of the technology company Grab in Singapore. “We equally hold the future of ASEAN in our hands and should actively shape it.” She was confident that ASEAN could soon become “the leader and not the follower” in the global economy.
 
In closing the meeting, Samdech Techo Hun Sen, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, said that participants should focus on “obstructing protectionist policies and increasing the spirit of integration and globalization”.
 
The 2018 World Economic Forum on ASEAN will be held in Viet Nam. In remarks at the closing plenary to invite participants to next year’s meeting, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the Prime Minister of Viet Nam, said that they would “contribute to the regional dialogue and to fostering public-private partnerships for a peaceful and stable region”.
 
More than 700 business, government and civil society leaders from 40 countries participated in the 26th World Economic Forum on ASEAN in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, from 10 to 12 May 2017. The theme of the meeting was Youth, Technology and Growth: Securing ASEAN's Digital and Demographic Dividends.
 
Simultaneous to the meeting, some 120 leaders and stakeholders in the agriculture sect participated in the 2017 Grow Asia Forum to strengthen investment, partnerships and innovation in ASEAN’s agriculture sector. The Grow Asia partnership has reached over 500,000 smallholder farmers in five countries, including Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Viet Nam and Cambodia.
 
Innovative solutions such as digital platforms to empower smallholder farmers, catalytic finance, smart policies and partnership platforms can help scale impact to provide opportunities for farmers. The aim is to scale up the initiative to reach 10 million smallholder farmers in South-East Asia by 2020, improving productivity, profitability and environmental sustainability by 20%.
 
During the meeting, the Sustainable Development Investment Partnership (SDIP), a collaborative initiative of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Forum, announced the launch of its ASEAN regional hub. SDIP brings together a community of 35 governments, banks, pension funds and philanthropic organizations committed to mobilizing $100 billion in projects to support sustainable and climate-resilient infrastructure. The new SDIP hub will address the financing challenges in ASEAN, with the goal of scaling the sustainable infrastructure pipeline throughout the region.
 
Ahead of the meeting, the World Economic Forum and the Government of Cambodia welcomed over 2,500 students and members of the public to the first Open Forum to be held outside of Davos, where Forum holds its Annual Meeting every January. In the session, participants discussed the ASEAN Dream. With more than half of ASEAN’s population under 30 years of age, the youth are critical players in defining their future. The Open Forum session was viewed live by over 120,000 people.
 
Established in 2003, the Open Forum sessions engage a diverse global public and facilitate the sharing of a broad range of ideas and perspectives on pressing issues, giving students and the public the opportunity to interact with business, government and civil society leaders.
 
The 26th World Economic Forum on ASEAN also highlighted the region’s young people and their dynamism, with participants including members of the Forum’s Global Shapers, Young Global Leaders and Social Entrepreneurs communities. The youth of ASEAN are highly optimistic about their future. They are aware of ASEAN as a regional bloc of 10 nations in South-East Asia. And they believe the countries of ASEAN should pursue deeper integration.
 
These were among the key outcomes of a survey commissioned by the World Economic Forum and released at the meeting. The Forum surveyed nearly 24,000 ASEAN citizens between the ages of 18 and 22 for their views on ASEAN and their prospects.

    69% of ASEAN youth expect to have a better life than their parents, while only 13% expect the opposite
    90% of ASEAN youth are aware of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) and understand its goals
    64% of ASEAN youth believe that being part of ASEAN will improve their career and job prospects, with only 5% thinking that being part of ASEAN will make their lives worse

“These results suggest that the countries of ASEAN have done a great job building awareness around regional integration,” said Justin Wood, Head of Asia Pacific and Member of the Executive Committee at the World Economic Forum. “It also suggests that now is the time for policy-makers to shift gear away from awareness and towards action. There is a need to shift away from mere awareness-building and instead move towards pushing integration more forcefully.”
 
The survey was conducted online in partnership with Sea Group, a Singapore-based internet company, and included responses from six ASEAN countries: Indonesia, Philippines, Viet Nam, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Half of the respondents had tertiary education, the other half were educated to high-school level. Some 70% were male and 30% were female. - (ANA)

AB/ANA/ 12 May 2017 - - -