Friday, October 23, 2015

What Will ASEAN Community Bring to Young People?

What Will ASEAN Community Bring to Young People? 


Founded in 1967, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN has been playing crucial roles towards peace and prosperity of all the ten member states. Underlying this very community are three critical pillars known as the ASEAN Economic Community, ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community and ASEAN Political and Security Community. With the benefits each pillar presents to the whole community, ASEAN is expected to bring about numerous noteworthy opportunities in the region especially for youth.

First of all, the regional integration especially in term of the economy promises a lot of possibilities for youth to acquire their future jobs. Basically, since AEC is approaching, there will be influx of regional and foreign investments in the region, resulting in a wide range of job opportunities available for people. The increasing of employment opportunities can be considered as a positive challenge for youth especially in CMLV to level up their academic capacities and skills in order to compete in this proactive market labor force. As the workplaces in the region become more and more diversified, youth can also experience and expose to the global mindset working environment which is essential for their future goals.

Secondly, ASEAN Community also promotes and enhances cultural understanding and awareness among ASEAN citizens, thereby helping to alleviate the problems of discrimination and cultural misunderstanding within the member countries. In this community where the members share common goals and one same destiny, the emphasis on regional and individual country culture is mandatory. Hence, with the integration, people from different member states will have to learn the differences and to accept the strengths and weaknesses. They need to learn about different cultures and they have to work in a diversified environment. The outcomes do not only include the development of the understanding of the cultures at the regional level, but they also encompass the capacity and potential allowing people to work even at the global level; this is particularly important for youth.  
Thirdly, within the political and security community, youth are rendered more and more opportunities to partake in politics of their country and the region much more than ever before. On top of that, they have great opportunities to actively involve in dialogue to exchange views on regional and international issues and contribute to regional peace and stability, one of the main purposes of the establishment of ASEAN. With no doubts, ASEAN First Model ASEAN meeting is an example of a role of youth to participate actively to address the regional issue; it will provide the chance of ASEAN talented youth to become delegates of their nations in ASEAN meeting to resolve a trafficking in person which is one of the current controversial topics the region is facing.
Last but not least, with the great advancement of integration, ASEAN Community aims to promote the democratic government and peace-building cooperation in the region. Hence, we strongly believe that this community will bring such a big positive impact on young people to witness the community based on value of freedom, democracy, human rights, human dignity and human security. Moreover, youth will be able to develop themselves to become the next future leader in the region. As Kofi Anan puts “Youth are not only leader for tomorrow, but partners for today. As a result, they are serving as a preliminary force to urge peace and development in the community. Hence, ASEAN is basically a platform and a “Caring and Sharing Community” for youth.

All in all, we believe that ASEAN Community will bring the utmost opportunities to young people. We hope to collaboratively work with brothers and sisters from the same community to resolve the current issues we are facing and to promote cultural awareness and regional and even global network. Therefore, we hope that the committee could sense our excitement and burning passion to be a part of the meritorious program that renders the chances for us to be a part of the region’s development.

Written by                                                                                              Edited by Peou Sopheak

                 

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