Vietnamese students of the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Washington DC (VNA) –
The US Department of State and the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative
(YSEALI) have recently held a ceremony to mark the 40th anniversary
of the establishment of US-ASEAN relations and the 50th founding
anniversary of ASEAN.
The event saw the attendance of Walter
Douglas, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of East Asian and
Pacific Affairs, and Alyson Grunder, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy in
the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Addressing the ceremony, both
Douglas and Grunder held that since its foundation, the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has developed continuously and played a central
role in the region, thus helping maintain peace, stability, security and
prosperity in the region.
The US will continue supporting and
assisting ASEAN, and intensifying its strategic partnership with the bloc in
numerous aspects, they affirmed.
While hailing the important role
of YSEALI in promoting socio-cultural exchanges, the officials believed that
the programme’s members would contribute to fostering US-ASEAN relations.
Pham Hung Tam, Minister
Counsellor of the Vietnamese Embassy in the US, met Vietnamese students of
YSEALI, affirming that the embassy is willing to assist them if necessary.
Founded in 2013, YSEALI is a
youth exchange programme between the US Department of State and ASEAN member
states.
It includes all ASEAN member
countries (Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and is open to young people aged
between 18-35.-VNA