Your Majesty,

Excellencies,

Distinguished Representatives,

I am heartened to once again meet with representatives of our ASEAN youth. In the Philippines we recognize clearly how our youth plays a critical role in building a stable, secure, prosperous, and people-centered ASEAN Community.

The youth’s participation in our collective efforts is pivotal in addressing the challenges that lie ahead, as well as harnessing the opportunities to steer our region towards fulfilling our ASEAN vision. The world we know is rapidly changing, driven by technology and other advancements in the digital frontier.

However, opportunities as ever are accompanied by a darker side, and in the technological space, this includes online scams, cyberbullying, misinformation, disinformation, and the potential for abuse and misuse of Artificial Intelligence.

We must therefore equip our youth with digital resilience—that will enable them to navigate online spaces with a critical lens, and to use technology to amplify their voices and contributions to ASEAN’s regional growth.

Fostering a collaborative dynamic among our youth can only bring significant developments to our region.

I note the success of the ASEAN Youth Climate Action and Disaster Resilience Conference

that was held in Manila just a few weeks ago. We continue to support initiatives led by our young people and encourage their active participation towards taking unified action.

As leaders of ASEAN, we must come together and deliver the emphatic message that as we equip our youth and our peoples with tools for resilience, we must, at the same time, work together for the protection of our environment from further damage and from harm.

As I have previously conveyed to our youth representatives, as ASEAN leaders, we need the youth perspective. Your voice will continue to be heard, and we will listen with seriousness and with open minds.

Along these lines, I am also happy to note that the Philippines hosted last month the 14th Senior Officials Meeting on Youth, or SOMY, which empowered regional youth cooperation for sustainable development through the ASEAN Work Plan on Youth 2021–2025.

Let us continue to create avenues for our young people to flourish with a shared vision for the future of ASEAN while charting the path to a sustainable tomorrow. We must always work together as partners towards a common goal—to uplift and realize the true and ultimate potential of ASEAN for all our peoples.

Maraming salamat. Mabuhay.

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