Binusian International Relations’ Students Participation in the 2nd ASEAN-Italy Youth Conference 29-31 May 2023

12 Jul 2023

The ASEAN-Italy Youth Conference (AIYC) is a joint event by ASEAN and Italy with the purpose of strengthening relations between the two parties. Such collaboration was possible thanks to the support of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy, ASEAN, Global Action and partners. This conference was held to provide a medium for the youth of both regions to discuss world’s challenges and to develop suggestions regarding those crucial phenomena. In 2023, the 2nd AIYC took place and was held at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia for three days.  of three days. There were various delegates coming from all ASEAN countries and from Italy as well. Topics such as “Climate Change and Food Security” along with “Youth Empowerment and Digitalization” were the main discussion within the commissions.

Global Action which was one of the main contributors of the event needed support from local staff for running the event and as such, they reached out and collaborated with the ASEAN Youth Organization (AYO) in Jakarta. AYO then invited ten people to become part of the staff for the event. The division roles that were given for the local staff are:

  1. Commission: Climate Change and Food Security: Rania and Venesia
  2. Commission: Youth Empowerment and Digitalization: Carlene and Viqra
  3. Logistics: Prita, Zabrina, and Michelle
  4. Public Relations: Vivian, Evie, and Atha

For those working within the commissions, they were tasked with supervising and assisting moderation for discussion between delegates in regard to the main topics. As for the logistics division, they were given the responsibility to support the coordination of the operation. Last but not least was Public Relations. Those that belong to this division were assigned with social media coverage which include photo and video capture as well as social media management.

29th May 2023

On the first day, we were split into two groups with one group accompanying the delegates from their hotel to the ASEAN Secretariat and one group preparing for the arrival of the delegates at the ASEAN Secretariat. Work for the event began at 9 AM and the delegates arrived at the Secretariat building at around 10 AM. After arriving, the delegates were greeted with a tour of the ASEAN Secretariat.

During the tour, we as the staffs of the event carried our duties with those in the commission and logistics division supported the preparation for the main event as well as lunch break while the public relations team joined the tour and took documentations. A lunch break was held after the tour and was then continued with the opening ceremony in the hall where various representatives gave their speeches. Afterwards, the delegates were separated into their commissions which were the Climate Change and Food Security Commission and the Youth Empowerment and Digitalization Commission. Same as before, as staffs, we went to our respective assignments and worked until the end of the commission which was at 5.30 PM. The day ended with a dinner that was provided by the Global Action team at 7.30 PM.

30th May 2023

For the second day of the conference, the activities were not as diverse as the day before because it went straight to the main session which was discussion between delegates within the commissions concerning the topics that were given. As such, there was not as much stuff to be prepared for this day. Work for the event began from 9 AM until 5.00 PM and ended with a dinner at 7.00 PM.

31st May 2023

Finally, in the last day of the conference, all the local staff gathered at the ASEAN Secretariat at 9 AM and went to their stations. Right away, the conference started with delegates going to their respective commissions. Here, the delegates did a finalization on the discussion that they had done in the past two days. Once that is done, everyone was gathered back in the conference hall where one youth representative from ASEAN and one youth representative from Italy gave a presentation of their joint communiqué. This was followed by responses from ASEAN and Italian dignitaries and officials and Global Action representatives. Once it was finished, there was a lunch break for half an hour.

The last segment of the event was the closing ceremony. During the closing ceremony, there were speeches and closing remarks given by the officials of Global Action Italy as well as by the EU representative to ASEAN. Representatives of each delegate were also given time to give their speeches and remarks on the event. The event ended early at 3.40 PM in which our job as staffs for the conference is officially complete. We were done with assisting supervision of the event and taking documentations. After it ended, the delegates went on a city tour around Jakarta. A final dinner was held for everyone involved in the event 7.30 PM as a last gathering and we said farewell to each other at 9 PM.