In less than 4 months, the ASEAN Community will be established based on three so-called pillars of politics and security, economics and socio-cultural community. While the first two elements have seen lots of examples of political and economic co-operation; the cultural aspect of the community seems largely ignored.
One of the seminar's highlights was the experience shared by the EU delegation to Vietnam about the establishment and management of the bloc’s socio-cultural community. When language differences can be the barrier in building a shared identity, the EU gives much importance to education to connect its people, especially the youth.
At the seminar, the ASEAN Secretariat also shared that many efforts have been made to enhance cultural exchanges within the bloc, such as student exchanges and the curriculum on ASEAN history. However, they have yet to efficiently reach the public and that will be one of the missions of the ASEAN Socio-Economic Community.
Unity in diversity. This experience from the EU may help Vietnam and other ASEAN countries to build an effective ASEAN social cultural community in the future.
