38th Conference of the ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organisations (CAFEO 38)

38 ^thConference of the ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organisations(CAFEO 38)

The HaNoiDeclaration

“Fostering Initiatives and Actions by AFEO to Build a Sustainable and Prosperous ASEAN Community”

18 – 26 November 2020, Ha Noi – Viet Nam

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WE, the national engineering organisations in the 10 ASEAN member countries, collectively known as the ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organisations (AFEO), namely, Pertubuhan Ukur, Jurutera dan Arkitek, Brunei Darussalam (PUJA); Board of Engineers Cambodia (BEC), Cambodia; Persatuan Insinyur Indonesia (PII), Indonesia; the Lao Union of Science and Engineering Associations (LUSEA), Lao PDR; The Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM), Malaysia; the Federation of Myanmar Engineering Societies (Fed.MES), Myanmar; the Philippine Technological Council (PTC), The Philippines; The Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES), Singapore; The Engineering Institute of Thailand under H.M. The King’s Patronage (EIT), Thailand; and the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA), Viet Nam, participate in the “ Hybrid”38 ^thConference of the ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organisations (CAFEO 38) both virtually and physically hosted by VUSTA in Hanoi from the 18 ^thto 26 ^thNovember with the theme: “Fostering Initiatives and Actions by AFEO to build a Sustainable and Prosperous ASEAN Community” .

2020 brought forth the biggest test for mankind, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a severe, catastrophic and multidimensional impact on the global, regional and national community. The pandemic had posed tremendous challenges to the world which has made us realize the need to be more innovative and take transformative actions to sustain and progress. More than ever, the ASEAN Engineering community wish to reaffirm our determination to rebuild a better, self-reliance, more resilient, sustainable and prosperous ASEAN. We recognised the need for ASEAN to uphold the spirit of a cohesive and responsive ASEAN Community to further strengthen cooperation and advance our partnerships to ensure resilience and sustainable development in Southeast Asia and beyond.

RECALLING our commitment at the previous CAFEO37, held from 10 ^thto 14 ^thSeptember 2019 in Jakarta, AFEO with the Jakarta Declaration which called on the member countries to proactively take concrete actions to (i) forge path to zero plastics; (ii) advance exellence in engineering education; (iii) enhance engineer mobility; (iv) facilitate digital technology enablement; and (v) promote entrepreneuring thinking.

The objectives of CAFEO 38 are to reaffirm AFEO's commitment to the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 (ASEAN Vision to 2025), and the United Nations Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development (Agenda 2030) by reinforcing the core role of engineers, engineering technologies and technicians in promoting sustainability; initiating high-quality engineering cooperation programs and facilitating the use of digital technology to foster connectivity, equity and prosperity of ASEAN.

With the theme “ Fostering Initiatives and Actions by AFEO to build a Sustainable and Prosperous ASEAN Community”, AFEO commits to carry out its duties diligently to establish strong networks with government bodies, private entities and agencies of ASEAN member countries, thereby promoting experience sharing; strengthening cooperation between AFEO members; facilitating the exchange and development of better technical education, building an ASEAN engineers, engineering technologies and technicians talent pool ready to craft and push forward a sustainable development agenda in the region. In this uncertain environment, it is important that learning continues, best practices be improved and online learning resources provide options for new and virtual learning.

RESOLUTION AND DECLARATION

We reaffirm our commitment to fully and effectively implement the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the ASEAN Leaders' Vision Statement on ASEAN cohesion and proactive adaptation: Overcoming challenges and sustaining growth; and the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda 2030) through key initiatives and AFEO working groups; and emphasis the importance of maintaining ASEAN centrality and solidarity in community building efforts; while enhancing engagement with external partners in the face of unprecedented challenges and serious socio-economic impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

AFEO is committed to reinforcing the role of promoting the sustainable development of engineers, engineering technologists and technicians; taking concrete actions to strengthen ASEAN community cooperation, enhancing the exchange, share of knowledge, best practices through working groups, steering committees and affiliations of AFEO,  as well as advocating with the government to promote the engineering profession including enhancing engineering students exchange programs between ASEAN countries.   AFEO may have to find new ways or new ideas to progress as the pandemic opens door to new and old ideas for the organisation to improve.

WE at CAFEO 38herebyRESOLVE TO

1. Strengthening the Global and ASEAN regional system towards mobility and training of engineers, engineering technologists, and technicians, especially amongst the Women Engineers and Young Engineers via virtual or digital platform, we will commit to promote essential linkages in the region by facilitating essential engineer mobility virtually.

2. Having uniformity in registration of ASEAN Engineers such as the harmonising of the ASEAN Chartered Professional Engineers (ACPE) and the ASEAN Engineering Register (AER), so as to increase the robustness of the engineering profession and help to expose the young engineers to the international/ regional working environment.

3. Recovering from the COVID 19 pandemic is unlikely to be fast or easy.   AFEO will need to adapt to new normal instituting processes that optimise interaction and communications even with minimised human contact. The pandemic has hastened in areas of contactless and accelerated adoption of technologies such as, but not limited to artificial intelligence, digital and information technology, providing new ways for learning and training.  Catalyst ASEAN’s cohesiveness and resilience via Accelerated and People-centered Digital Transformations, would be a way forward for AFEO.  

Responding to climate change, wide-spread diseases, catastrophic disasters, the ASEAN engineering community commits to constantly innovate itself to develop sound solution, resilient platforms to build a strong, responsive and cohesive supply chain, and to facilitate robust trading and investment on economic activity in the Covid-19 era. In this era of Information Technology and connectivity, we, the engineering professionals of ASEAN/AFEO must be able to identify nurture and inspire our engineers, engineering technologists and technicians to contribute engineering knowledge, expertise designs, solve issues and provide solutions, whether it is in the areas of the following, but not limited to transportation, telecommunications energy or ICT.This should be AFEO’s ultimate life-long mission

5)       Strengthening sustainable development cooperation, with external partners to provide a more effective ASEAN reconstruction of the multi-dimensional impact of COVID-19 emphasizing the importance of citizen health protection and well-being; supporting sustainable economic recovery, and strengthening inclusive and multilateral partnerships.

CALL TO ACTION

WE, the member organisations of ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organisations (AFEO) commit ourselves to this Hanoi Declaration at the CAFEO 38 and shall, individually and collectively adopt, enhance and accelerate the actions stated in this Declaration.

SO RESOLVED AND AGREED BY:

APPROVED IN PRINCIPLE FOR ENDORSEMENT AND RATIFICATION BY THE CONSTITUENT MEMBERS OF THE TEN (10) AFEO GOVERNING BOARD AT ITS MEETING ON THIS 26TH OF NOVEMBER 2020

Signed at the Hybrid 38th CAFEO held virtually in Hanoi, Viet Nam