| Fizah HAB |
THE Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports hosted a welcoming dinner for the 318 participants of the 45th Ship for Southeast Asian and Japanese Youth Programme (SSEAYP), at the International Convention Centre in Berakas on Saturday.
The youth participants are from all 10 ASEAN member countries and Japan, who arrived in Brunei as their first port of call.
The guest of honour was Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Awang Haji Aminuddin Ihsan bin Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka Haji Abidin.
Also in attendance were the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports Datin Paduka Dr Hajah Norlila binti Dato Paduka Haji Abdul Jalil, Acting Director of Youth and Sports and the Chairman of the SSEAYP 2018 Working Committee Haji Zafri bin Haji Mohamed, Japanese Ambassador to Brunei Darussalam Motohiko Kato, ASEAN high commissioners and ambassadors to Brunei Darussalam, Ship Administrator Yamatani Hideyuki and officers from the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.
The dinner began with an introduction of the national leaders followed by an exchange of souvenirs between them and the guest of honour.
The event continued with a speech by the Japanese Ambassador, who highlighted the strong ties and mutual understanding between the ASEAN and Japanese youth participants, while also hoping that their time spent in each other’s company would “encourage teamwork, build genuine friendships and reinforce the close bonds more and more, by having extensive conversations with one another, learning about the wonderful qualities of each country and reaffirming your pride in the country where you were born and raised.”
The minister in his speech lauded the building of solid foundations for networking and communication between the youth participants.
“By building new bridges between each other, SSYEAP is a golden opportunity for all participants to achieve a deeper level of appreciation for each other as one big community, both onboard and when the ship berths at port,” he said.
Under the 2018 SSEAYP programme, the participating youth members are on a 52-day journey which includes a homestay and several activities in 11 different prefectures across Japan.
While in Japan from October 23 to November 2, representatives from each participating country had an audience with Their Imperial Highnesses Prince and Princess Akishino.
They also paid a courtesy call on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.