Jakarta, (VNA) - Brunei’s Ministry of Culture,Youth and Sports, in coordination with the ASEAN Secretariat, hosted the 16th Coordinating Conference on theASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (SOC-COM) on March 15, aiming to enhance synergyon the cross-sectoral and cross-pillar work of the ASEAN Socio-CulturalCommunity (ASCC).
The eventwas co-chaired by Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for the ASCC Kung Phoak andHajah Nor Ashikin Binti Haji Johari, the Chair of the Senior OfficialsCommittee for the ASCC (SOCA).
Over 100officials from SOCA, representatives of sectoral bodies from all three pillarsof ASEAN, Committee of Permanent Representatives, as well as ASEAN regionalentities participated in the meeting.
Theconference, themed “Towards Post-COVID Recovery and Resilience in ASEAN,” highlightedthe implementation progress of the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework(ACRF), which serves as ASEAN consolidated exit strategy from the COVID-19crisis.
Inpromoting synergy within ASCC to support the implementation of ACRF, ASCCsectoral bodies, through a thematic discussion, presented their priorityinitiatives in line with the recovery framework that requires cross-sectoralcooperation.
Themeeting was also updated on the development of the Consolidated Strategy of theFourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), where a strong cross-sectoral andcross-pillar collaboration was emphasised. The strategy is expected to equipthe ASEAN region to face the challenges presented by the 4IR, which has beenaccelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic./.