On May 15th, the China ASEAN Youth Development Forum themed at “Poverty Alleviation in the Digital Era” was successfully held in Nanning, the capital city of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Over a hundred youth representatives and diplomats from China and ASEAN countries attended this event.

Fu Zhenbang, Vice President of the All-China Youth Federation, said during a video speech that China and ASEAN had achieved leapfrog development in cooperation since the establishment of the China-ASEAN Dialogue Relations. He called on young people from both sides to uphold independence, openness, cooperation, and unity, and jointly explore the path of modernization through peaceful and cooperative development.

Ekkaphab Phanthavong, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN, noted that ASEAN countries in recent years had achieved remarkable outcomes in economic development. But he said there still remained problems with unbalanced poverty alleviation in rural areas - therefore it is necessary to integrate poverty alleviation and digital development. He hoped that the event would inspire young people to boost China-ASEAN cooperation.

Youth representatives from China and ASEAN countries then shared policies and new practices on poverty alleviation in the digital era, injecting youth wisdom into the pursuit of common development.

On May 19th, youth representatives from China and ASEAN countries gathered in Nansha, Guangzhou to participate in the China-ASEAN Development Forum themed at Technological Innovation Empower Youth Development.

Fu Zhenbang, Vice President of the All-China Youth Federation, and Zhang Yurun, Deputy Secretary-General of the People's Government of Guangdong Province, attended and addressed the forum. The Secretary General of the Committee for ASEAN Youth Cooperation (CAYC), Mohd Zaidi Aziz, delivered a video speech. Around 100 youth representatives participated in this forum, including delegates of the 14th China-ASEAN Youth Campus, ASEAN students studying in China, and young people from all walks of life in Guangzhou.

Fu Zhenbang (left), Zhang Yurun (right)

Fu Zhenbang noted that youth is the driving force of technological innovation, and technology provides a broad space for youth development. He emphasized that youth is supposed to facilitate global technology governance in the right direction. He called on young people to firmly grasp development as a key to solving all problems, advocate for openness rather than closure, cooperation rather than confrontation, unity rather than division, and contribute their youth power to building a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.

Mohd Zaidi Aziz

Mohd Zaidi Aziz introduced the practices made by the Committee for the ASEAN Youth Cooperation(CAYC)in empowering youth development through science and technology innovation. He called on youth organizations around the world to provide more opportunities, resources, and platforms for young people to engage in joint actions and lead them to achieve common development via regional innovative transformation.

Zhang Yurun stated that the future of China-ASEAN requires joint participation. He looked forward to worldwide youth collectively telling the story of China-ASEAN cooperation, carrying forward the values of equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness, along with seeking consensus while valuing differences, and serving as the youth envoys of friendly exchanges between China and ASEAN.

Youth representatives from China, Brunei, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and other ASEAN countries, shared their practices in empowering youth development via innovation and entrepreneurship.

This forum is held simultaneously with the China-ASEAN Youth Campus, a flagship youth exchange project under the framework of the China-ASEAN cooperation mechanism. It is one of the regional forums of the 2023 World Youth Development Forum.