In commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of ASEAN-Japan friendship and cooperation under the theme of Golden Friendship, Golden Opportunities, the ASEAN Youth Organization is organizing the first and largest ASEAN Youth Economic Forum in Southeast Asia and supported by the AMEICC (AEM – METI Economic and Industrial Cooperation Committee) the AYEF 2023 program attempts to provide young leaders of ASEAN and Japan with the opportunity to directly engage, collaborate, and work hand-in-hand towards strengthening closer ties between the two regions.

With the main theme of “Building A More Inclusive Youth Participation in ASEAN-Japan Friendship”, this program will serve to promote people-to-people mobility, enhance mutual understanding between young people of ASEAN and Japan, as well as to provide the opportunity for a more inclusive youths participation in policymaking processes.

The ASEAN Youth Economic Forum (AYEF) 2023 is a five (5) days forum conducted in Jakarta, Indonesia, which invites 20 primary delegates composed of young professionals, policymakers, researchers, economists, and also university students from 10 ASEAN Member States, Timor-Leste, and Japan. Some main activities were conducted in this forum, including a public forum, site visits, a series of policy discussions and recommendations presentations, and a handover session to the high-level stakeholders. More than 300 young proffesional attended this first’ ASEAN Youth Economic Forum and approximately 1,000 Youth taking an intensive online course on Circular Economic in ASEAN.