The inaugural e-exhibition of the ASEAN Cultural Heritage Digital Archive (ACHDA) website was unveiled today at the Webinar and Launch of “Forging History: Metals in the Crucible of ASEAN’s Transformation.” It features 22 digitised cultural heritage treasures selected by guest curator Girard Phillip E. Bonotan with support from museums and archival institutions of the ASEAN Member States. During the panel discussion titled “Reimagining Exhibitions during COVID-19”, experts from cultural institutions in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Japan discussed their experiences in reinventing the museum experience in light of the ongoing pandemic.

“While the COVID-19 Pandemic has deeply affected ASEAN’s cultural institutions, it provides impetus for museums to re-imagine their outreach to audiences through immersive digital cultural offerings,” said Deputy-Secretary General for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Ekkaphab Phantavong at the opening of the webinar. The ACHDA project is supported by the government of Japan through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF). Ambassador Akira Chiba of the Mission of Japan to ASEAN, stated, “It is my honor and pleasure to see that advanced Japanese digitisation technology by NTT DATA came into use, and that JAIF, the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund plays an indispensable role in launching this project.”

Forging History can be accessed through https://heritage.asean.org/e-exhibitions. More e-exhibitions will be added as the collection of digital heritage treasures on the ACHDA website expands.

See also the news article covering this launching event from NTT Data.

The Launching Event is also broadcasted on numerous media including Tempo, Thailand Business News, Vietnam Plus, and Worldakkam.

Gender-based discrimination and stereotypes are still common in sports. The ASEAN Secretariat is inviting the public to participate in the “ASEAN We Score” campaign to dismantle this issue. As part of this initiative, it will hold a talk show with sport ambassadors on Friday, 3 December 20210 at 15.00-17.00 (GMT+7).

The talk show will engage Olympians, Paralympians and sports professionals to discuss about women’s and girls’ achievements and leadership in a male-dominated field such as:

1. Sokha Pov, World Vovinam Championship gold medalist from Cambodia.
2. Leani Ratri Oktila from Indonesia, gold medalist for para-badminton in the women’s doubles SL3–SU5 at Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
3. Tuyet Van Chau from Viet Nam, consecutive gold medalist for Taekwondo at the SEA Games.

It will be aired on the ASEAN Secretariat’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpITAUACQmU

This event is part of the ASEAN-JAPAN Actions on Sports supported by the Government of Japan through Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF).

The Japanese Government, as an ASEAN Dialogue Partner, has provided significant support to the AHA Centre and its programmes before the Centre’s inception in 2011 through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF). Japan also forms a key support mechanism for the AHA Centre Executive Programme (ACE Programme) that aims to prepare the future leaders of ASEAN in disaster management. This partnership, alongside strengthening ASEAN and Japanese ties and mutual support through disaster experience, have allowed for important financial stability and long term increases in human capital and infrastructure within the AHA Centre operational environment.

Singapore is joining forces with Japan to lift the standards of emissions monitoring and reporting in Southeast Asia, in an effort to help large emitters in the region cut their carbon footprint and increase their access to green financing schemes. Under the effort, Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) will work with the Japan Overseas Environmental Cooperation Centre and other partners to come up with guidelines to help firms better measure and report their greenhouse gas emissions.

This will make up the second phase of the Partnership to Strengthen Transparency for Co-Innovation, which was launched on Friday, 12 November 2021 at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. The first phase of the partnership entailed discussions with more than 40 company and governmental representatives to identify the support firms needed in emissions measurement and reporting, and how such a framework can be applied across different countries in ASEAN.

The Development and Implementation of Facility/Company Level Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) Systems for Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions in ASEAN Member States (AMS) is supported by the Government of Japan through Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF).

Related news is also broadcasted by the Channel News Asia https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=J8eAGEEDMt8

The increasing amount of air conditioners (ACs) usage, particularly in emerging economies with hot climates, driven by the growing income and technological advancement, accumulates to the energy demand rise.  The room air conditioning market in ASEAN member states is expected to grow by over 10 percent annually over five years, with sales of over 10 million units in 2018. Since the energy consumption will increase substantially along with the growing number of ACs -improving ACs Efficiency will be critical to reducing energy demand. Moreover, it could also address life cycle costs, peak load, and emissions impact.

Harmonising the metric standard in the ASEAN region can ensure performance measurement and increase energy efficiency while aligning with the international AC-efficiency efforts. Furthermore, developing a regional policy roadmap to harmonise national and regional energy-efficiency standards & labelling that align with international standards (U4E Model Regulation Guidelines) is essential to guide ASEAN member states in capturing cost and energy savings from more efficient ACs minimising environmental impacts and encouraging innovation.

Through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF), the Government of Japan has been supporting this initiative through The Promotion of Higher Efficient Air Conditioners in ASEAN through Harmonisation of Standards and Strengthening of Market Verification and Enforcement Capabilities (Phase I) project.

This article is also published on the ASEAN Centre for Energy’s website: https://aseanenergy.org/improving-efficiency-of-air-conditioners-in-asean/