Role of Young Leaders towards a Shared Vision of ASEAN 2050

The world has changed dramatically over the last decade and measuring the factors that determine competitiveness continues to be a highly complex process. Ever since the World Economic Forum highlighted the Fourth Industrial Revolution in 2016, it has certainly become one of the hottest buzzwords in the technology and innovation sector. For us in Asian Region, when China announced their One Belt One Road (OBOR) Initiative, it will change the face of global trade and reshape the 21st century economy. It is forecasted that this initiative will boost trade to USD2.5 trillion per year in the next decade, reaching 63% of the world population.

It is certainly true that the Fourth Industrial Revolution – new, rapidly changing technologies in many different fields – has continuously changed the way we think, work and live. It is transforming and disrupting the society landscape whereby people as consumers taking hold of the purchasing power and demanding greater value for them. Government needs to be more agile and leaders need to be more proactive and adaptive towards fast and constantly changing world. We need to stress, for example, the value of ideas and collaboration within nations, the values of open-mindedness and connectivity, and to have a clear vision of each nation, as well as having a shared vision regionally that every nation under ASEAN will strive for.

Youths make up a large portion of the ASEAN community. It is estimated that about 60% of ASEAN population is under 35 years old. They are the change makers of this region. We need to build the right ecosystem and platform in order for them to initiate new stuff that will shape our future. ASEAN leaders, especially the young leaders, need to work together to reframe the strategic approaches so we could choose on how to compete globally, set a clear long-term vision and purpose, and strike a careful balance between global and local. Today, as an ever-increasing range of new technologies disrupting the sector with exponential speed, tech business leaders are focusing on how to create new value propositions and how to run ASEAN platform more effectively. The disruptors are being disrupted, and any nation that fails to acknowledge and embrace this new reality runs the risk of being left behind.