Global citizenship has become the goal and motivation for many young people today, these above-mentioned issues that need international cooperation allow young people to confidently voice their opinions and perspectives.
The 2023 ASEAN – Japan Youth Festival with the theme’ ASEAN – Japan Youth Hand-in-hand to Implement Sustainable Development Goals’ has been taking place in Ho Chi Minh City from December 12 to December 15.
The event was organized by the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and the National Committee on Youth to enhance exchanges and to deepen mutual understanding among young people in ASEAN countries and Japan and raise awareness of ASEAN - Japan for youth, people of ASEAN and Japan.
The event also contributes to the overall success of the year commemorating the 50th Year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation (1973-2023) as well as affirms Vietnam's active and responsible participation in ASEAN and ASEAN+ cooperation.
Within the framework of the festival, a group discussion on the topic of The role of ASEAN-Japan youth in promoting the implementation of sustainable development goals took place on the afternoon of December 12 at the Ho Chi Minh City-located Youth Cultural House.
Participants discussed five themes including high-quality education, gender equality and women's empowerment, economic growth, sustainable cities and communities, energy and measures to respond to climate change, recycling-oriented society - a society that consumes the least resources, reduces effects on the environment as much as possible by reducing extravagant consummation, controlling and protecting waste generation, promoting the use of the environmentally friendly product, and mostly promoting waste reuse, and Health and well-being affirming the responsibility of young people for the development of countries, bringing practical benefits to ASEAN countries as well as contributing to stability, peace and prosperity of the region.
23-year-old Japanese man Kota Kaizu shared that the Festival is an opportunity for him to exchange and learn more from young people from many countries in Asia. Through the discussion, in addition to professional skills and foreign language improvement, he learned lots of lessons. Above all, he find that everyone respects and acknowledges all opinions, even if they have conflicting views, to discuss and find satisfactory solutions to the problem.
Being a volunteer within the framework of the festival's activities, second-year student Phi Ngoc Duc from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology said that he personally learned a lot from this international event.
In the discussion group on the topic of Quality Education, young people are interested in the issue of the use of technology to narrow the gap between student groups, such as developing online learning platforms and supporting disadvantaged student groups to obtain Internet access devices and learning opportunities. In addition, they also talked about the issue of the impact of technology and artificial intelligence (AI) such as chatGPT on education and global quality education programs.
In addition to talks about education, young people presented speeches about global issues such as sustainable development, and environmental protection. Discussing at the Energy group, measures to respond to climate change and building a recycling-oriented society, Huynh Vinh Quang from the Youth Communist Union in District 7 shared that his group talked about the increasingly high unemployment rate in countries in the ASEAN region.
He said that he was impressed with the opinion shared by you from Singapore, who talked about collaborative projects to share AI technology with Vietnam so that each side can learn from the other and find a sustainable development model suitable for their country. This action must come from young people to create a pervasive effect on everyone and a clear transformation effect in society.
