JAKARTA, 4 May 2017 – The ASEAN Secretariat hosted the inaugural Forum of Entities Associated with ASEAN today in an effort to strengthen cooperation for community building efforts. The forum brought together 150 participants comprising of ASEAN parliamentarians, legal experts, bankers, youth, civil society representatives, women, disability advocates and business and professional associations representing 56 entities and centres associated with ASEAN.
At the forum, participants were briefed on the goals of the three community pillars and how they can contribute to realising the ASEAN Vision 2025. These three pillars consist of political security blueprint, socio-cultural blueprint and economic blueprint which have been set till 2025. Interactive discussions, questions and answers during the presentation of three pillars by panelist. One of the delegates from the textile traditional art associations within ASEAN demanding more supports of this traditional art as it has been a heritage which needs to be preserved.
They also learned about the privileges and obligations of entities associated with ASEAN, such as the use of ASEAN name, anthem and logo. Further, they discussed how to access third-party funding mechanism managed by the ASEAN Secretariat and its project management cycle. During the forum, entities shared their aspiration for ASEAN to further enhance engagement with the grassroots level to fully realise a people-oriented and people-centred ASEAN. They also shared their views and suggestions for the 50th anniversary of ASEAN.
During the open forum, representatives of accredited entities expressed their appreciation to ASEAN Secretariat for gathering the entities for the first time. “This forum is a great platform to meet with other organisations and entities. We found so many great opportunities to work together to achieve ASEAN goals,” said Mr. Senjaya Mulia from ASEAN Youth Organisation, which is currently seeking accreditation. The one-day forum was also graced by the representatives of Permanent Missions of ASEAN Member States and supported by the German Government through GIZ cooperation project.
ASEAN Federations of Engineering Organization (AFEO), one of ASEAN accredited civil society organizations assigned Habibie Razak to attend the forum on behalf of AFEO Chairman. AFEO is the federation of engineering institutions within ASEAN which was established since 1998 and have been very active in exchanging and sharing knowledge and information with regard to science, engineering and technology within ASEAN Countries.
Reported by Habibie Razak, Secretary of Gas Department, the Institution of Engineers, Indonesia (PII), Source: www.asean.org