HCM City (VNA) - The Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Programme 2007 (SSEAYP) with 319 young people from all 10 ASEAN member countries and Japan aboard docked at the Sai Gon port on December 1.
The Nippon Maru ship departed from Japan’s Yokohama port a month ago and visited Singapore, Indonesia , Malaysia and Thailand before calling at Viet Nam - the last leg of its trip to member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Youth representatives are scheduled to join Ho Chi Minh City’s young people and students in a series of activities, including cultural exchanges, home-stay, and meeting with former members of SSEAYP who are living in the city.
The vessel will leave the city on the afternoon of Dec. 4 for Tokyo , Japan , wrapping up its voyage this year.
SSEAYP is the region’s largest youth exchange with the participation of 10 ASEAN countries and Japan. Started in 1974, it became an annual programme under a joint initiative of the Japanese government and five ASEAN founding countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
The programme aims to strengthen the friendship, cooperation and mutual understanding between Japanese and Southeast Asian young people, helping build a peaceful, stable, and developed region.
SSEAYP has to date visited Viet Nam for eight times, with seven times at the Sai Gon port and only one at Da Nang port. Viet Nam that first joined SSEAYP in 1996 had sent 29 youths to this year’s programme.-Enditem
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