The ASEF Young Leaders Summit (ASEFYLS), held 1-5 November 2015 in Luxembourg, has concluded with the Asia-Europe Young Leaders Call for Action on Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment. 4 participants partook in a first-of-its-kind 5-minute intervention at the 12th ASEM Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (ASEM FMM12). The jointly drafted Call for Action urged the ASEM Governments to enrich the entrepreneurial spirit and skills among the youth as means to promote youth employment across the two continents. The proposed actions focused on the 3 C’s: Connectivity, Culture and Capabilities, and asked for 3 D’s: Discuss, Decide and Do.
The Call for Action will be conveyed to additional platforms, including the 5th ASEM Employment and Labour Ministers Meeting (ASEM LEMC5), held 3-4 December 2015 in Sofia, Bulgaria, and the ASEM Lifelong Learning Conference, held 30 November – 2 December 2015 in Melbourne, Australia.
ASEFYLS – organised by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) and hosted by the University of Luxembourg and the European Investment Bank (EIB) – aimed to provide close interactions between the young and senior leaders. The participants, selected form a pool of 5,988 applications, had the opportunity to exchange experiences with renowned leaders from the business and public sector. Mr Kazuo TSUKUDA, Senior Executive Advisor, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Mr Peter VESTERBACKA, Chief Marketing Officer, Rovio Entertainment (owner of the Angry Birds franchise) and Mr Viyaj GOYAL, Chief Finance Officer, ArcelorMittal Europe, were amongst the speakers joining the Summit. ASEFYLS also invited ASEM Delegations for a reception together with with the participants. The reception welcomed the H E Lubomír ZAORÁLEK, Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic, H E Lundeg PUREVSUREN, Foreign Minister of Mongolia, and H E George VILLA, Foreign Minister of Malta.