PH ASEAN SOM Leader Graces 2020 ASEAN-China Young Leaders’ Scholarship Program Launch Ceremony

Ambassador Buensuceso speaks at the 2020 ACLYS program launch ceremony on 20 October 2020 via video conference. The launching ceremony was also attended by ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui, Philippine Department of Education Undersecretary Jesus L.R. Mateo, members of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN (CPR), the ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meeting on Education (SOMED), the Chinese Mission to ASEAN, the China scholarship council, and ACYLS recipients.

PASAY CITY 20 October 2020 — Ambassador Elizabeth P. Buensuceso, Philippine ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) Leader, graced the launching ceremony of this year’s ASEAN-China Young Leaders’ Scholarship (ACYLS) program on 20 October 2020 via video conference, stressing the importance of strengthening links between ASEAN and China through people-to-people ties.

“ACYLS was born out of a simple idea – the transformational potential of education. We were inspired by our shared goal of providing educational opportunities to promising young leaders from ASEAN at institutions of higher learning in China, and by the desire to strengthen links between ASEAN and China through people-to-people ties,” Ambassador Buensuceso emphasized.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced this scholarship program exclusively for ASEAN nationals at the 21st ASEAN-China Summit in 2018 in Singapore. In 2019, Chinese universities welcomed the first batch of ACYLS scholars.

“The ACYLS is still young, but I hope that in time, it will come to be a long-standing program of ASEAN-China dialogue relations that symbolizes the close ties of friendship and cooperation between our countries”, Ambassador Buensuceso said.

ACYLS aims to support ASEAN community building through human resources development and to enhance people-to-people exchanges between ASEAN and China. It is composed of scholarship programs for post-graduate studies and capacity building, including short-term research grants and fellowships, in Chinese universities. END