Jakarta (VNA) – The 6th ASEAN Foundation Model ASEAN Meeting (AFMAM) 2020 kickedoff on September 4.

Theevent is being held by the ASEAN Foundation, with the support of the ASEANSecretariat, the National Youth Council of Singapore, the Global CitizenEducation Group, the ASEAN-Norway cooperation project on capacity building forreducing plastic pollution ASEANO and Model United Nations (MUN) Inc.

Theprogramme, reformatted into webinar instead of taking place in Hanoi asoriginally outlined, sees a cohort of 96 undergraduate students and facultymembers for the next four days learn about ASEAN’s decision-making processesand develop their leadership skills in an ASEAN Plus One setting.

Inorder to deliver the best possible AFMAM experience to the delegates, theprogramme’s most popular activities, such as the role-playing and meetingsimulations, the expert-led talk show and the cultural night, are now in onlineformat.

Furthermore,an initiative called “Youth Initiative Competition: To Blue the Blue” is alsobeing implemented as a complementary event to the 6th AFMAM 2020.

Co-organisedby the Committee of Vietnam Model ASEAN Meeting and ASEAN Foundation, thecompetition aims to challenge Vietnamese youth to creatively address the issueof marine life protection and preservation in ASEAN. The competition has beenrunning for a month and will announce its winners on September 5.

Asin the previous years, the 6th AFMAM 2020 is designed to support this year’sASEAN Chairmanship and its key priorities. This is evidenced by the selectionof the programme theme which emphasises on the importance of partnership andcollaborative effort – two key words that are deeply embedded in theoverarching theme of Vietnam’s 2020 ASEAN Chairmanship, “Cohesive andResponsive ASEAN”.

“Justlike the 2020 ASEAN mantra ‘Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN’, it is only throughsolidarity, unity, and cooperation can we manage to circumvent the seemingly insurmountableobstacles ahead,” said the Executive Director of ASEAN Foundation Dr. Yang MeeEng in her remark in the opening ceremony of the 6th AFMAM 2020.

Sinceits inception in 2015, AFMAM has offered its participants an authentic ASEANexperience through realistic role-playing and meeting simulations that inviteyouth to be part of the region’s discussions on topics relevant to ASEAN inreal-life.

Inthe last five years, the programme has received over 7,000 applications,directly empowering more than 600 undergraduate students and faculty members./.