JAKARTA, 9 September 2023 – The young generation of ASEAN must actively take on strategic roles, starting from ensuring job availability to actively engaging in actions and sustainability issues.
Entrepreneurship must truly become the lifeblood of the region and should be promoted more as an ASEAN culture.
The government also has high expectations on the young generation of ASEAN, who have positive energy, creative ideas, and innovation in empowering micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) as well as empowering women.
This spirit is one of the driving forces behind the ASEAN+ Youth Summit 2023, titled "ASEAN Youth Strength: Collaboration in Diversity," held from 6 to 8 September 2023, at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC).
Indonesia’s Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno, who was present during the discussion session, witnessed the enthusiasm of young people involved in creating an ASEAN citizen show. "So, it's about the culture and sense of belonging as an ASEAN nation," said Menparekraf Sandiaga.
According to Sandi, the economy is highly supported by MSMEs. Ninety percent of jobs come from MSMEs, and almost 60 percent are in the creative economy sectors such as culinary, fashion, handicrafts, digital economy, music, film, and animation, with the majority being empowered by women.
Sandiaga also shared Indonesia's success story of how the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy made efforts to recover national tourism and creative economy in the post-COVID-19 era.
"I remember that day, on December 22, I was summoned by President Joko Widodo, and I was told that, 'You will be in charge of tourism.' I thought with COVID-19 and restrictions, do we need tourism? However, it was an important moment because on that day, we designed how tourism should be personalized, customized, localized, and smaller in size. How we can create ecotourism, how suddenly tourism villages became very important in the tourism platform," said Tourism Minister.
According to Sandiaga, International events such as the G20 Summit and the 43rd ASEAN Summit held in Indonesia have also contributed to the recovery of the tourism sector.
The ASEAN+ Youth Summit 2023 is organized by ASEAN Youth Agenda Indonesia 2023, a youth forum within the ASEAN Chairmanship. The forum's initiators are the non-political youth organization Indonesian Youth Diplomacy (IYD), youth from ASEAN member countries, and ASEAN+ partners.
Besides Sandiaga, other figures were present during the discussion at the ASEAN+ Youth Summit 2023 including Climate Change Strategy Advisor of the World Economic Forum Nathan Cooper, Chief Commercial Officer (COO) of Sarisuki Philippines Bam Meija, and Indonesian artist and philanthropist Raline Shah.
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For further information, please contact the following:
Director General of Public Information and Communications of the Ministry of Communications and Informatics – Usman Kansong (0816785320).
Get more information at http://asean2023.id, https://infopublik.id/kategori/asean-2023, and https://indonesia.go.id/kategori/ragam-asean-2023
Photo caption [1]: The ASEAN+ Youth Summit event was held on September 6-8, 2023, at the Jakarta Concert Hall in Jakarta. (Photo: Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy).
Photo caption [2]: Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (Menparekraf) Sandiaga Uno, while serving as one of the panelists at the ASEAN+ Youth Summit 2023 event "ASEAN Youth Strength: Collaboration in Diversity," on Thursday (7/9/2023) at the Jakarta Concert Hall. (photo: Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy).