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ASEAN civil society conference boosts voice unity

The ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum 2013 themed “ASEAN: Building Our Future Together” took place in the Brunei capital city of Banda Seri Begawan on April 6-8.
The ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum 2013 themed“ASEAN: Building Our Future Together” took place in the Brunei capitalcity of Banda Seri Begawan on April 6-8.

Heldby the Council of Women of Brunei under the auspice of the CivilSociety Organisations, the event was to strengthen solidarity and unityof voices, concerns, needs and recommendations of each citizen and civilsociety, towards the realisation of ASEAN Community by 2015.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Brunei Minister of Culture, Youthand Sports Pehin bin Haji Abdullah said the successful establishment ofthe ASEAN Community by 2015 critically relies on the participation andactive contributions of each citizen and civil society in ASEAN,including youth, women and non-governmental organisations.

He stressed that each Government, citizen and civil society in theregion should work to realise common goals of poverty reduction, jobcreation, health care improvement and sustainable environmentalprotection.

Abdullah said civil society can assistin bridging ASEAN gap through mutual links to improve services for thepoor, the illiterate, the ailing and the vulnerable.

On top of this, civil society can seek cooperation in human resourcesdevelopment through education, training, technology and regionalinitiatives on natural disaster mitigation and people-to-peopleconnectivity.

Participants mulled recommendationmechanism, environmental protection and the building of ASEAN spanningover three key pillars of politics-security, economics andsocio-culture.

They also adopted the ACSC/APF jointdeclaration and transferred the chairmanship of next year’s event toMyanmar which will chair ASEAN in 2014.-VNA
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