BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Nov. 20 (PNA/Xinhua) — The culture and information sectors in Southeast Asia need to do more to build an ASEAN identity, a senior Brunei government official said Wednesday.
Rozan Yunus, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, made the remarks at the opening of the 48 Meeting of the Committee on Culture and Information (COCI), one of ASEAN’s oldest institutions. “COCI and its two sub-committees had played a key role in raising awareness of ASEAN over the years. Activities such as the ASEAN Quiz had done much to educate our people about our diversity of cultures, especially our young people,”he said.
At the 22nd ASEAN Summit that Brunei hosted in April, the permanent secretary noted that Leaders”acknowledged the importance of promoting greater awareness of our work in ASEAN.
“The goal here is to connect our people beyond our borders, bridge cultural gaps and articulate the benefits of regional integration as we move towards the establishment of the ASEAN Community in 2015.”
“Leaders accordingly tasked all three ASEAN Community Councils to emphasize communicating their efforts to relevant sectors, people and stakeholders, including through traditional, mainstream and new media. In this respect, they looked forward to the early finalization of the ASEAN Communication Master Plan”, he said.
Rozan recalled that the strategic objectives of the ASEAN Socio- Cultural Community (ASCC) Blueprint adopted by leaders in 2009 included creating a sense of belonging, consolidating unity and diversity as well as deepening mutual understanding of cultures, histories, religions and civilizations. (PNA/Xinhua)