Vietnam chairs 47th meeting of ASEAN Foundation’s Board of Trustees

This event marked the final meeting held by the nation in the role of AF BOT Chair in 2021.

The occasion served to acknowledge and appreciate the various activities conducted by the ASEAN Foundation from May to October, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ASEAN Foundation has successfully carried out a range of programmes and initiatives across four major areas, including education, arts and culture, communication, and community building. Indeed, all of these schemes are part of projects under the KONNECT ASEAN programme, the ASEAN data science explorer (ADSE) contest, the ASEAN Foundation Model ASEAN Meeting (AFMAM), and competitions for ASEAN youth.

During the course of the meeting, on behalf of AF BOT, Ambassador Bang welcomed the efforts of the ASEAN Foundation in organising a range of activities aimed at raising awareness of the bloc, whilst also connecting and co-ordinating with the ASEAN Secretariat and partners.

The meeting discussed outstanding issues, as well as development orientations of the ASEAN Fund in 2022, including a plan aimed at recruiting the Fund’s executive director for the 2023 to 2026 period.

At the end of the meeting, Ambassador Bang handed over the AF BOT chairmanship to the Ambassador, head of the Brunei Delegation to ASEAN. Moving forward, Brunei will assume this role in 2022.

The future will see the ASEAN Foundation continue to focus on strategic goals such as raising the awareness of ASEAN, strengthening organisational capacity, and promoting the organisation's image and brand.

It will also intensify the search for budgetary funding sources for the Fund in order to implement projects which will ultimately serve ASEAN's priorities in the fields of COVID-19 impact mitigation, science and technology, creativity, renewal, and the development of young human resources.