The ASEAN Secretariat invites creative talents from all ten ASEAN Member States to join an exciting competition to design the official character for the ASEAN Pavilion at the World Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan. This competition offers a unique opportunity for skilled individuals to visualise the spirit and identity of the ASEAN Community on a global stage.

The creator of the winning entry will receive an exclusive invitation to the ASEAN Day celebration at World Expo 2025 Osaka on 8 August 2025. This prestigious reward includes two round-trip flight tickets, providing the winner with a rare opportunity to celebrate ASEAN’s achievements in Osaka.

Participants are encouraged to design a character that captures the spirit of ASEAN by incorporating elements of culture, tradition, and modernity. The competition welcomes entries from individuals in Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam. The submission period will close on 3 April 2025 at 23:59 (GMT+7). For more detailed information, please visit: http://bit.ly/tor_apcharacter.

The ASEAN Pavilion will be open from 13 April to 13 October 2025.

ASEAN’s participation at the World Expo 2025 Osaka is supported through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF).

Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, officially launched the IAI Attachment Programme, at the ASEAN Headquarters/ASEAN Secretariat by welcoming a new batch of Attachment Officers (AOs) from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Viet Nam (CLMV), and Timor-Leste, for the first time on 17 March 2025. Supported by the Government of Japan through the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF), the programme aims to enhance the capacity of government officials from CLMV and Timor-Leste by immersing them in the work of the ASEAN Secretariat.

This year marked a historic milestone with the participation of Timor-Leste for the first time, reflecting ASEAN’s commitment to supporting Timor-Leste’s capacity-building as it prepares for full ASEAN membership.

The ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC) has held the “ASEAN New Generation ASEAN Short Film Awards” for the first time this year, and 10 award-winning short films have been selected.

To make the award-winning films more widely available to the public, the AJC will conduct a public voting on its Instagram account and YouTube channel from 17 to 30 March 2024 (Japan time). Please give a “like” to your favourite film!

For details of the ASEAN New Generation Short Film Award, please check the AJC website.

The ASEAN Secretariat, with support from the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) and the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF), co-organised the “Knowledge Sharing Event on Crop Burning and Biochar among ASEAN, and Wrap-up Event for the Project on Promoting Crop Insurance.” The meeting took place on 4 and 5 March 2025 through a hybrid format.

Participants of the two-day event included government officials from ASEAN Member States, Timor-Leste, and Japan (National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) and the Mission of Japan to ASEAN).

Participants addressed challenges related to climate change through crop insurance and discussed initial steps towards financing strategies for crop burning reduction, as well as conducting an inventory assessment for biochar initiatives in ASEAN Member States.

From 25 to 27 February 2025, the National Partnership for Migratory Bird and Habitat Conservation of Indonesia actively took part in the Capacity Building Workshop-Training for Migratory Bird Conservation and Their Habitats held in Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia. The workshop was organised by Wetlands International Indonesia or the Yayasan Lahan Basah Indonesia (YLBA) in partnership with the Ministry of Forestry-Indonesia, ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB)’s ASEAN Flyway Network Phase II Project and the National Parks Board NParks of Singapore with fund support from the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF).

Participants also had a field observation and identification of waterbirds & seabirds at Jakarta Bay as well as a hands-on experience and discussion on bird watching and habitat assessment at Pulau Rambut Wildlife Sanctuary, a Ramsar site located on a small atoll reef island northwest of Jakarta City.