In total, 52 participants provided their contributions in four strategic areas of the EU-ASEAN partnership: environment and climate; democracy and human rights; higher education, science, technology and innovation; as well as connectivity, sustainable growth and jobs and digitalization. Each group presented its draft recommendations, which will feed into a youth statement.

Hosted by the Mission of the European Union to ASEAN and the Delegation of the European Union to Malaysia in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia, the event also highlighted the main priorities of Malaysia’s ASEAN Chairmanship in 2025.

In the EU’s partnership with ASEAN, young people are important stakeholders to engage with.

“You are the future of ASEAN. Your engagement here today will contribute to shaping the future of this region, the engagement of the two regions and the world we will live in tomorrow. Do keep in mind that the EU remains a reliable partner of ASEAN for peace, development and prosperity,” H.E. Rafael Daerr, Ambassador of the European Union to Malaysia, said in his opening remarks.

“Under Malaysia’s chairmanship, ASEAN will finalize and launch the ASEAN Community Vision 2045, and youth is at the center of this vision of the ASEAN Community,” H.E. Dr Selvaraj Ramasamy Abdullah, deputy director of the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Division (ASCCD), ASEAN-Malaysia National Secretariat, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in his opening remarks.

The EU youth sounding boards were established as part of the Youth Action Plan for EU external action. This plan serves as the EU’s guiding framework to promote meaningful youth participation and empowerment globally for sustainable development, equality and peace. Focusing on three core areas of action – namely engage, connect and empower – the plan is a timely endeavor to engage young people in EU external actions.

“This is a great opportunity for us youth to contribute our thoughts on things that matter to us and to connect with our peers in the region,” Alicia Tien, a member of the Youth Sounding Board for EU in ASEAN from Malaysia said. “It is also encouraging to see the commitment of the EU and ASEAN to facilitate and support our engagements.”

Meanwhile, the Erasmus+ program has been one of the EU’s flagship programs for student mobility, contributing to EU-ASEAN cooperation in connectivity. Under the Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters scholarship program, more than 200 ASEAN students per year have the opportunity to choose from 190 available courses. From 2014 to 2024, the total number of Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters awardees from the ASEAN region was 1,857 ASEAN students.

“It is often too easy to work in silos and forget that we can achieve bigger things when we work together. Today, we are reminded of the power of youth and our role in shaping the future of our region,” said Dinh Khac Dong, Erasmus country representative from Vietnam.

Concluding the event, Katerina Lopo, political advisor of the Mission of the European Union to ASEAN said, “It is truly inspiring to see how much the EU and ASEAN youth have in common and how much we can learn from each other. Every journey starts with the first step; the EU and ASEAN will celebrate half a century together in 2027. A golden wedding is a significant milestone symbolizing wisdom and strength of enduring relations. We count on you to be in the driving seat for the future of our two regions.”

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