Speech by President Halimah Yacob at the WorldSkills ASEAN Competition 2023 Opening Ceremony

Excellencies

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

I am pleased to be here today to officiate the opening of the 13th WorldSkills ASEAN Competition. First, let me extend a warm welcome to our guests from all over ASEAN. Thank you for gracing this competition with your presence and participation.

The WorldSkills ASEAN Competition is a key symbol of ASEAN unity. It provides an opportunity for experts and officials across ASEAN Member States to network and exchange ideas on skills training.  For our youth, it is an opportunity for them to meet like-minded friends, broaden their horizons, and foster a sense of belonging to the region.

The first competition, hosted by Malaysia in 1995, comprised six skills areas and involved four participating countries. This year, it comprises 22 skills areas and nine participating countries. This is testament to our strong partnerships across ASEAN Member States, and our collective commitment towards developing the skills of our youth.

It is an honour for Singapore to be hosting the competition for the first time. This competition was delayed by three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, during which our countries faced immense challenges domestically and regionally. But we persevered and forged stronger regional cooperation and coordination. This enabled the continued flow of important goods such as food, medicines, vaccines, and other essential supplies within our region. Now, as we emerge from the pandemic against an increasingly troubled global backdrop, we must continue to ensure that ASEAN grows as a region and that our peoples benefit from this growth.

The ASEAN region is the 5th largest economy and one of the fastest-growing regions in the world. With its strong economic growth potential, the ASEAN region sees growing interest in the global arena and has become an attractive destination for international businesses.

As a region, ASEAN faces many challenges yet also opportunities:

(a)           The digital revolution is shaping and reshaping business models and industry processes, profoundly impacting the Future of Work.

(b)           To achieve our net-zero emissions targets, we need to urgently transform how our companies realise growth and how our households consume resources.

(c)           Some countries will need to manage ageing populations and find ways to enable their seniors to live meaningfully and healthily. Others with a relatively young population will have to ensure that the youth are ready to capture new opportunities as the economy of the region grows.

To sustain the competitiveness of the ASEAN region and drive our future growth, it is imperative that we place greater emphasis on lifelong learning and continually invest in the skills of our workforce. This includes our youths – almost half of ASEAN’s population of nearly 664 million is below 30 years of age.

The ASEAN community can work in partnership to emphasise the importance of skills and cultivate the mindset of lifelong learning within our societies. Learning should not be confined to the school-going years. Lifelong learning is a mindset that our youth need to acquire. With this mindset, they will be more able to stay resilient through their lives, and thrive amid changes and disruptions.

(a)           We can exchange ideas on promoting skills development and training. As we work towards equipping our ASEAN youth with skills for the 21st century, we can explore opportunities for collaboration.

(b)           We should also work together under the WorldSkills platform to promote skills mastery and technical training. Through WorldSkills, young people can inspire one another, discover what they enjoy doing, what they wish to study further, and what careers they wish to pursue in the future.

The theme of this year’s WorldSkills ASEAN Competition is “Our Skills, Our Future”. It sends a strong message about encouraging our youth to pursue skills mastery to forge a future for themselves and their nation.

Over the next few days, more than 170 young ASEAN talents will be competing here with one another, striving to do their best to fly their country’s flag high. This competition belongs to them. The WorldSkills ASEAN Competition is their platform to showcase what ASEAN youth can achieve with passion, perseverance, and ingenuity. This is also an opportunity for ASEAN youth to understand one another’s culture and develop closer friendships that make for a stronger and more interconnected ASEAN.

Our young participants will be competing in 22 skills areas including Automobile Technology, Industrial Automation, Internet-of-Things, Fashion and Graphic Design Technology, and Restaurant Service, amongst many others. All of these skills areas have been curated to represent the areas of economic importance for ASEAN Member States, such as land transport, engineering, information and communications technology, as well as design and services.

These young talents will also hone their critical core skills, such as in problem-solving, critical thinking, interacting with others, along with key dispositions such as resilience. These are skills and values that will enable our youth to succeed over their lifetime. I hope that our young talents will continue to hold onto these values and continuously pursue skills mastery even after the competition in the spirit of lifelong learning.

Finally, I congratulate all participants for having come this far and wish you the very best in your respective competitions. Regardless of the competition outcomes, you are already winners in your own right, as you have sharpened your skills and passed the stringent selection to be representing your countries today. We are inspired by your dedication and passion to skills mastery.

During the contest, I encourage all of you to do your best, encourage and cheer one another on. Over the next few days, I hope you will find the time to bond over your passion for the skill and craft, learn from one another, and appreciate both our similarities and differences as neighbours in this region.  I wish for all of you to forge lasting, meaningful friendships.

I would like to express my appreciation to the ASEAN Member States, industry partners, sponsors, and stakeholders once again for your unwavering support in making this competition possible.

Thank you.