NEWS

The 5th ASEAN+3 Senior Officials Meeting on Youth

    The 5th ASEAN+3 Senior Officials Meeting on Youth was held on 9 September 2012 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Participants from Japan side were Mr. Hidekazu INAGAWA, Director-General for the General Promotion of Policy on Youth Affairs and Childrearing of Cabinet Office as head of the Japanese Delegation and Mrs. Takako ITO, Minister-Councellor of Mission of Japan to ASEAN. Participants included members of the Senior Officials Meeting on Youth (SOMY), officials concerned in the ASEAN Secretariat as well as representatives from China and Korea.

    In the opening remarks of this meeting, Ms. Bui Diem Huong, Deputy Director-General of the Youth International Cooperation Development Center (CYDECO), National Committee on Youth of Viet Nam, underlined the important role of youth in enhancing ASEAN Plus Three cooperation towards a cohesive ASEAN Regional Community. Japan, China and Korea reported the updated cooperation of Youth Exchange with ASEAN Member States respectively.

    In this report, Japan explained the output of various youth exchange programs carried out by Japanese Government, reminding the Meeting that the development of people’s networks including youth exchange was discussed during the 14th ASEAN-Japan Summit Meeting in November 2011 and ASEAN-Japan Ministerial Meeting in July 2012. Regarding the Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Program (SSEAYP) which was launched as the joint program among ASEAN member states and Japan in 1974, Japan underlined that total number of the Participating in SSEAYP counted over ten thousand and this program has become the symbol of the friendship between ASEAN and Japan, and that the alumni associations were established to utilize person to person relationship between Japan and ASESN member states and have become international networks. In addition, Japan also explained the output of the Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths (JENESYS) Program implemented for 5 years since 2007, and the progress of “Kizuna (Bond) Project” .

    ASEAN Member States appreciated the efforts undertaken by Japan. In additon, the meeting held discussion on the importance of improving cooperation with the ASEAN member states.