THE 20th ASEAN Youth Day Meeting (AYDM) kicked off yesterday morning with a “sharing session” by the recipients of this year’s ASEAN Youth Award and Ten Accomplished Youth Organisations (TAYO) ASEAN Award.
A total of 35 delegates from ASEAN countries respectively are currently in the country to attend AYDM which will run until October 11.
Themed “Youth as an Agent of Change Towards Development of Community and World Peace”, the sharing session was held at the Youth Centre in the capital aimed for the awardees to share their experiences and inspiring other young people in making a difference in their community.
The recipients for the ASEAN Youth Award and TAYO ASEAN Award for Brunei were Khairunnisa Ash’ari and Kumpulan Putra Seni (KPS).
Khairunnisa, who is actively involved in Green Brunei, Society for Community Outreach and Training (SCOT) Brunei, Brunei Youth Council and ASEAN Young Professionals Volunteer Corps (AYPVC), shared her personal experiences and how her projects have benefited the community, locally and regionally.
“For example, AYPVC is a regional volunteering programme which was established last year. We successfully organised volunteering expeditions to Cambodia, Indonesia and Philippines last year. So for this year, we’re going to continue and going to run the programme in Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. The Government of Brunei Darussalam through KKBS, will fully fund the programme,” she said.
The sharing session also saw the youngest ASEAN Youth Award winner from the Philippines. Sixteen-year-old archery athlete, Luis Gabriel Moreno recently won the gold medal in the 2nd Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China last August.
“This is the first time the Philippines got gold in the Youth Olypmpic in the field of archery, so it is very big for us back in my home country. So, I hope to inspire other young athletes out there to continue doing sports. I want to share that sports can do wonders. You are not only doing it for yourself but you’re also doing it for your country,” he said.
He also expressed his excitement being the youngest recipient of the ASEAN Youth Award this year and shared, “I feel very honoured as only a few people can get the award, and I am very thankful to the ASEAN Community.”
AYDM was the result of the First ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Youth held in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2012 as well as the one of the resolutions during the 15th ASEAN Sub Committee on Youth Meeting in Solo, Indonesia in April 1998.
The event yesterday gathered various representatives of youth groups and clubs throughout the Sultanate.
Source: The Brunei Times