Hanoi (VNA) 🤪– ASEAN citizens, especially youth withdigital and technological savvy, need to build and improve their skills todevelop further in the future, according to the article “What skills andvalues do ASEAN countries need to meet the challenges of the future?” publishedon Indonesia’s Jakarta Globe online newspaper.

According to the article, young people need both hard andsoft life skills to capitalise on the digital assets in the region.  Hard skills mean being able to capture, translate andinterpret data through data analytics and machine learning. Youth should alsopossess skills of filtering and judging the massive amount of data, thusgaining insights from data analysis.  Soft skills include sympathy, humility, attentiveness, openmindedness, diligence, emotional intelligence, social and behaviouralunderstanding. These drive intuition and discernment to get the essential truthand elevate insights.  Cross cultural and identity understanding is another neededskill for ASEAN youngsters, said the article.  They should be united and anchored as one ASEAN identity tomeet the challenges of an uncertain future. Integrating into the ASEAN commonidentity can facilitate job creation and create new technology ecosystems. Finally, the article suggested that ASEAN youth shouldsharpen their network connectivity skill which involves deep domain learning,acquiring knowledge in an area or many sectors.  It will allow young people to be part of a networkedcommunity to contribute to the diversity of the cluster.  The approach combining sectoral level skills with diversitywill promote a wealthier society while helping people become more tolerant,thus building up a prosperous and stable region. 

Building and developing the skills largely depend on thedetermination and will of youth in pursuing their dreams and goals. 

ౠ Meanwhile, leaders of ASEAN should encourage andcreate favourable conditions for their citizens to participate effectively inthe new technology revolution, thus allowing the bloc to achieve its goal of aresilient, inclusive and people-centered region set in the ASEAN Vision by2025. - VNA