Union Minister G Kishan Reddy says values shared by ASEAN countries enhance ASEAN-India Youth Connect

Union Culture and Tourism Minister G. Kishan Reddy has said the values shared by ASEAN countries enhance ASEAN-India Youth Connect. These shared values and ideals since time immemorial include deep cultural and spiritual bonds that come from the Buddhist legacy, common themes from the Hindu epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata, the roots of Sanskrit and Tamil languages and symbiotic dependence on the monsoon.

The Minister kickstarted the 4th edition of the ASEAN-India youth summit in Hyderabad last evening. The 4-day summit is held by the Ministry of External Affairs in collaboration with the India Foundation. Over 100 delegates from the south-east Asian nations of Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Brunei, Myanmar and Thailand and about 60 delegates from across India are taking part in the summit.

The Union Minister elaborated on the Act East Policy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and said the policy anchored around 3 Cs – Commerce, Connectivity and Culture – for strengthening collective engagement. He called upon the youth to strive for holistic connectivity with ASEAN in all its dimensions. Recalling the recently announced India-ASEAN Digital Work Plan 2023, Mr Reddy emphasised on the need for capacity-building and knowledge-sharing in emerging areas like the Internet of Things and 5G technology for further improve engagement of the nations.

Virtually addressing the summit, ASEAN Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn stressed on the importance of youth playing a greater role with a passion to bring desirable changes to the Indo-Pacific region with an objective to achieve global peace. The summit will continue till February 15.