A Journey Through ASEAN Part 5

TK park in collaboration with Thailand Research Fund, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and embassies of the ASEAN countries held an exhibition entitled “A Journey Through ASEAN Part 5” at TK park on the eighth floor of Central World shopping complex. The exhibition ran from May 20 to June 14, 2015.

It was created under a travel theme, “the final call for boarding, and the same destination for all of ASEAN”. It aimed to create awareness of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) which comes into being at the end of 2015, build readiness among Thais, and prompt them to learn essential work skills that meet regional occupational demands.

Araya Ma-Inn, vice president of the Office of Knowledge Management and Development (OKMD) and acting director-general of Thailand Knowledge Park (TK park), said the first such exhibition was held in 2011 to bring awareness of the AEC to Thais. It attracted more than 7,000 people between 2011 and 2014 as the public became increasingly aware of the significance of the economic integration to their lives, and that has been followed up with information on the progress in its formation.  

Mr. Araya said around one million young people, the general public, teachers and librarians had access to the exhibitions, activities and learning media about AEC and ASEAN in recent years.

“I really hope that the fifth ‘Journey Through ASEAN’ exhibition has helped to contribute to transforming Thailand into a knowledge-based society and getting our youths and people ready to become ASEAN citizens in the near future,” Mr. Araya said.

Other activities to promote AEC and Southeast Asian studies included organising “A Journey Through ASEAN Mobile Exhibition” at all TK park networks; an “ASEAN Youth Camp”; workshops for teachers and librarians on designing activities to promote learning about ASEAN; and developing educational materials on the subject.

In this year’s exhibition, there were games and a computer programme to provide knowledge about ASEAN and offer a fun test to identify the readiness of participants to become “AEC citizens”. Participants learn about their neighbours through a music show and film.  

The content of the exhibition focused on interesting topics and changes brought by the 2015 AEC. For example, career challenges and opportunities, AEC and the effect on small and medium-size enterprises, and ASEAN products that have flowed into markets in other regions.