JOINT RECOMMENDATION
ASEAN+3 YOUTH CAMP 2009
MEDAN, 11-15 JUNE 2009
WE the youths of the Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN)+3 namely Brunei Darussalam, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Republic of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Republic of the Philippines, the Republic of Singapore, the Kingdom of Thailand, People’s Republic of China and Republic of Korea have met in Medan, Indonesia, on 11-15 June 2009.
We shared and exchanged national experiences, practices and initiatives on youth entrepreneurship in our respective countries. We acknowledge that each country has its own challenges in dealing with youth unemployment. We thereby realize that empowering youth entrepreneurship is an integral element in ASEAN’s employment policy to achieve a forward-looking employment strategy.
We further acknowledge that enhancing entrepreneurship skills amongst youth would pave way for greater participation in nation building and ASEAN economic development. Such action would contribute to the social well-being of our people as well as to regional economic integration as elaborated in the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint.
We are committed to work towards establishing youth network in the field of entrepreneurship within ASEAN+3 member countries to promote solidarity, enhance our capability and strengthen our cooperation.
As the future leaders of ASEAN, we are committed to work towards economic independency and attain a united ASEAN+3 youth.
Towards that goal to realize a successful economic integration by 2015, we have agreed to propose the following recommendations:
The Role of Small-Medium Enterprises in Enhancing Entrepreneurship
1. Enhance the capacity of local government units and non-government organizations to support small-medium enterprises;
2. Intensify mentorship and coaching to increase awareness and participation among interested parties;
3. Hold inter-university and inter-high school entrepreneurship competitions to usher in new ideas from younger members of society;
4. Establish entrepreneurship associations in rural areas that will also coordinate with those in the city in order to facilitate knowledge-transfer, training, exhibitions, among others;
5. Gain competitive edge in the market by producing cheap and environment-friendly products yet having high quality;
6. Promote and gather information by setting up inter-regional IT networks;
7. Intensify micro financing efforts in order to support small and medium-scale enterprises start-ups.
Optimizing the Spirit of Entrepreneurship
1. Encourage secondary and higher education levels to incorporate entrepreneurship courses in their curriculum;
2. Promote the options of exchange of university credit through semester internship;
3. Encourage private corporations to tie up with various universities to offer internship programs;
4. Convene the ASEAN+3 Youth Camp on an annual basis to explore the best means for entrepreneurship;
5. Strenghten the capacity of youth through training programs;
6. Promote leadership and mentorship programs;
An ASEAN Youth Business Community
1. Establishing a regional platform for young entrepreneurs from ASEAN+3 [ASEAN+3 Youth Business Community] for effective networking, collaboration and sharing of best practices on youth development strategies and tools.
2. Setting up a foundation under the ASEAN+3 Youth Business Community that would serve as an agency for various youth and entrepreneurship agendas to provide opportunities for the youth in the ASEAN+3 business community to gain exposure at regional level through
2.1 Various exchange programs
2.2 Annual Trade Expo
2.3 Leadership and entrepreneurship training programs
2.4 Forums, conferences and dialogues
2.5 Other relevant programs
3. Encouraging Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to be incorporated into the corporate agenda at both local and regional level within the ASEAN+3 framework.
4. Seeking for governmental support from each respective country by means of adopting favorable policies, orders, issuances, agreements, understanding and appropriate legislation in the long term to institutionalize the ASEAN+3 platform.
Adapted at the Inna Dharma Deli Hotel in Medan, Indonesia, on the thirteen day of the sixth month of year two thousand and nine.
