On the morning of April 15, the Vietnam – Southeast Asia Friendship Association of Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City Union of Friendship Organizations and ASEAN Human Resources Research and Training Center, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU-HCM co-organized an international seminar: “ASEAN Youth AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS IN THE CONTEXT OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION”.
The program was attended by Dr. Nguyen Minh Nhut, Deputy Head of the Department of Culture and Social Affairs, the People’s Council of Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Ho Xuan Lam, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Union of Friendship Organizations, Prof. Dr. Phan Thi Hong Xuan, President of the Vietnam – Southeast Asia Friendship Association in Ho Chi Minh City, Dr. Phan Thanh Dinh, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Vice Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU-HCM, Representatives of friendship associations, Vietnam – international business associations, universities in Ho Chi Minh City
On the side of international delegates were: Mr. Agustavinano Sofjan, Consul General of the Republic of Indonesia, Ms. Wong Chia Chiann, General Consul of Malaysia, Mr. Amphay Souvannaseng, Deputy Consul General of Laos in Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Kim Nam Hoon from Vietnam Hydrogen Club – ASEAN.
On the side of the guest speakers were Prof. Dr. Dinh Dien, Director of the Center for Computational Linguistics, University of Natural Sciences, VNU-HCM, Mr. Le Ngoc Anh Minh, Executive President of Pacific Group, Chairman of Vietnam ASEAN Hydrogen Club and Miss Eco International 2023 Nguyen Thanh Ha.
There was also a large participation of students from universities, international students as well as individuals with an interest in the topic of sustainable development.
In his opening speech, Dr. Phan Thanh Dinh, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Vice Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU-HCM encouraged ASEAN youth to act and devise strategies to create a sustainable environment in the context of digital transformation, in which, students are the main factor driving projects to serve the UN’s SDGs and are the vanguard for the increasingly widespread global digital transformation. Thereby, in order to encourage young people and students in Vietnam and ASEAN countries to come up with initiatives to participate in solving the “ASEAN issues – the heart of growth” (the slogan of Indonesia – the country is holding the role of Chairman of ASEAN of 2023) alternately (initiated by ASEAN 2023) through forums and contests on Sustainable Development organized by the Vietnam – Southeast Asia Friendship Association in Ho Chi Minh City as well as the University.
Mr. Agustavinano Sofjan, Consul General of the Republic of Indonesia shared with ASEAN youth about the difficulties and challenges that the ASEAN region has faced during the Covid-19 pandemic, but it is also an opportunity to usher in a new era of digital transformation with very practical applications that Indonesia and Vietnam have succeeded in bringing remote control techniques into the fields of economy, banking, services and logistics. Thereby, Mr. Sofjan emphasized that ASEAN youth need to pay attention to three potential factors for stronger regional development in the future, namely adaptation, creativity and innovation. He called on young people to act for the sustainability and regional reach of ASEAN through 3 suggestions mentioned by Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi, namely: Pioneering innovation, Boosting spirit entrepreneurship of ASEAN youth and Enhancing social responsibility. He reminded the youth that you will be the masters of ASEAN’s future with you being the force making up one third of the population in the region, so let’s unite to work together towards a dynamic ASEAN more active and prosperous.
Also in the seminar, Prof. Dr. Dinh Dien shared a specific angle in digital transformation with ASEAN youths, which is ChatGPT software. Prof. Dr. Dien mentioned the outstanding features, practical applications, limitations and challenges of this software through vivid examples as well as interesting cases that ChatGPT brings to people. Dr. Dien also explains the operating principle, data source of ChatGPT and how the software simulates academic activities such as knowledge acquisition, translation, and scientific research. Thereby, Dr. Dien emphasized that even though it is a software with many outstanding functions, it is important for us young people in ASEAN to master and apply the software for good purposes to develop a healthy digital environment in the context of situation where ChatGPT itself also has many holes and errors both in terms of technical and user ethics. Concluding the presentation, Prof. Dr. Dien wished that ASEAN Youth use their knowledge to write good things for life as well as constantly update new knowledge otherwise they will be left behind in today’s society.
In addition, the sharing of Mr. Le Ngoc Anh Minh, Executive President of Pacific Group, Chairman of Vietnam ASEAN Hydrogen Club mentioned the creative factor towards sustainability, the circular economy is the trend. For example, city waste, it should be considered as a valuable resource, not something to be thrown away. As an entrepreneur, he urges young people not to be afraid but dare to try, to break through to overcome their own limits and immerse themselves in creativity, from which we can have creative ideas and solutions to create sustainability and take advantage of development opportunities in the context that the world has fewer and fewer resources for us. In addition, he mentioned the opportunity for young people to be willing to bring their ideas to life, ideas through the “Innovative Forum for ASEAN Youth” organized by the Vietnam – ASEAN Hydrogen Club and the Vietnam – Southeast Asia Friendship Association.
The inspirational speech of Miss Environment World 2023 Nguyen Thanh Ha contributed more confidence to young people and students to reach out to the region and the world. Miss Ha in the role of a young Vietnamese person, spoke about the current environmental situation and each of us young people is standing at the crossroads between environmental pressure and the urge to develop. Ha as well as many young ASEAN people carry the mission of those who find the key to sustainable development and digital transformation is a typical way to achieve that goal. Ha mentioned about startups in agriculture, clean energy, connectivity solution etc. that have found the initiative to create superior services, save labor resources, save resources through digital solution. To a certain extent, digital transformation has contributed to realizing the sustainable development goal in this century. Ha also shared her feelings about the environment in the journey to the crown of Miss Eco Internationa 2023 in Egypt, the contestants were asked around environmental issues that the beauties care about at the pageant. Mentioning about her hometown, it is the image of the Mekong Delta, which is aggressively adapting to drought, saltwater intrusion, and migrant workers because they cannot make a living based on nature as before. Since then, Ha has called on young people to discuss and act together for the environment for the sustainable development of the ASEAN region as well as around the world.
Concluding the discussion, Prof. Dr. Phan Thi Hong Xuan, President of the Vietnam – Southeast Asia Friendship Association in Ho Chi Minh City, Director of the ASEAN Center for Human Resource Research and Training highly appreciated the efforts of the guest speakers in providing an environment for discussion on sustainable development and digital transformation among ASEAN young people. Prof. Xuan hopes that there will be more seminars, workshops, conferences on environment, sustainable development and digital transformation in the future. Closing the talk show, Prof. Xuan concluded with young people about the 5Ks value system: (in Vietnamese: Khát vọng – Kinh nghiệm – Kế hoạch – Kết nối – Kết đoàn) Aspiration – Experience – Plan – Connection – Solidarity. If there are 5 Ks above, surely young people and students will achieve good results and achievements in the context of creativity – adapting to the digital transformation world as well as achieving goals in the region ” ASEAN stature: The heart of growth” – as the slogan of the 2023 ASEAN rotating host country is Indonesia.
Some pictures from the talkshow:
Representatives of Vietnam ASEAN Hydrogen Club including Mr. Le Ngoc Anh Minh and Lawyer Nguyen Anh Tam presented the presentation
Partners can refer to the presentation of Hydrogen Club Vietnam ASEAN click here
