24 March 2017 JAPAN — The First ASEAN University Student Council Union Conference held from March 13 to 21 March in Hiroshima and Tokyo, Japan elected Mr. John Derrick Ordoñez, student of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), as its first President.
As President, Ordoñez represents all ASEAN youth to the ASEAN Council and leads in the formulation of programs and activities of the students in the Union.
The Conference commemorates the 50th Anniversary of ASEAN and seeks to promote leadership, peace-building, cross-cultural understanding and appreciation of the ASEAN Community. It welcomed over 140 university students from ASEAN Member States and Japan, and focused on a theme of ‘peace and youth leadership in ASEAN and beyond.’
In her keynote address, Ambassador Elizabeth P. Buensuceso, Permanent Representative of the Philippines to ASEAN, stressed the “need for the youth to find common issues to unite them despite their diversity just as the Founding Fathers of ASEAN did in 1967.”
Under the Philippine Chairmanship of ASEAN special attention is given to the youth and other vulnerable groups to further strengthen its people-oriented and people-centered approaches in pursuit of common goals. END