Menparekraf Sandiaga Encourages ASEAN Youth Innovation For Environmental Sustainability In Labuan Bajo

Menparekraf Sandiaga Uno together with 22 ASEAN Youth Representatives or ASEAN Youth Youth Youth in Labuan Bajo NTT. (Photo: Doc. Kemenparekraf)

JAKARTA - Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (Menparekraf) Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno encourages creativity and innovation from young people who are delegations of ASEAN youth (ASEAN Youth) who are present in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).

Menparekraf Sandiaga Uno, who has met 22 ASEAN Youth Representatives or ASEAN Youth Youth Representatives in NTT, said this side event program was the result of a collaboration between the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Kemenlu) and the Labuan Bajo Flores Authority Implementing Agency (BPOLBF).

ASEAN Youth itself has been held for two days on 10-11 May 2023. There are several activities for 22 ASEAN youths to meet with 18 local youth Labuan Bajo, consisting of students / students at the El Bajo Commodus Tourism Polytechnic Campus (Poltekpar) and also students / students from SMAK St. Ignatius Loyola Labuan Bajo.

"We appreciate our friends of state representatives who attended. We hope that their visit is not the first and last visit, but after this they are back with their family and friends," said Menparekraf Sandiaga in a press release, Friday, May 12.

In addition, 22 ASEAN youths also held hearings with Menparekraf Sandiaga Uno to jointly plant Menunting Trees in the ITDC Golomori area.

The planting of the Ginting tree, which will become a typical tree of Labuan Bajo, is part of a sustainable aspect.

"Earlier I told them, this tree is called the Menunting tree. It is red, pink, white, and purple. I hope all of you come again to see when it blooms," he said.

In addition to the beauty of the flowers, the muting tree itself is classified as an endemic tree with very rare wood in Manggarai Raya (West Manggarai, Manggarai and East Manggarai), Flores, NTT, which until the 1980s was very close to the people of Manggarai Raya, especially rural communities, because it has a type of hard wood so that it is usually used for the manufacture of lemung or high-end building materials.

"Given that young people are a generation that will open up great opportunities to be able to bring in jobs, especially because the parekraf sector itself is targeted to be able to open 4.4 million jobs by 2024," said Sandiaga.

While in Labuan Bajo, ASEAN youths tested live on board attractions around the waters of Komodo National Park, using the Cajoma V Physical Ship for three days and two nights.

In addition to several other community projects, beach-clean activities were also carried out as well as visits to schools.

Meanwhile, the Director of ASEAN Cultural Social Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yuliana Bahar, said that the event was to bring together the representation of ASEAN youth with its leaders.

According to Yuliana, the ASEAN Youth program is Indonesia's priority to be able to provide dialogue platforms between the younger generation in the region through representatives with leaders, especially to discuss crucial issues among young people.

"Our hope is that at the decision-making level in each ASEAN country, especially for policies related to the interests of the younger generation in the region can be relevant to what is needed by the younger generation," he said.

Through this ASEAN Youth, it is also hoped that it can be a promotional event regarding the tourism potential and culture of Labuan Bajo to representatives of the younger generation in the 11 ASEAN region and at the same time become a momentum to be able to interact with local youth Labuan Bajo.

"During their activities, 22 ASEAN youth delegates helped create promotional content about Labuan Bajo in the context of ASEAN," he concluded.

For your information, ASEAN countries have at least a third of the combined youth population which is the largest ASEAN youth group ever, which is projected to reach a peak of 220 million by 2038.

ASEAN youths are encouraged to engage with ASEAN leaders and senior officials to make their voices heard about important issues related to youth through available platforms.