ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Symposium Building on Lessons Learned from the Women, Peace and Security and the Youth, Peace and Security Agendas

The United States, the European Union, and Singapore co-hosted the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Symposium Building on Lessons Learned from the Women, Peace and Security and the Youth, Peace and Security Agendas June 28-30, 2022.

The in-person symposium, hosted in Honolulu, Hawaii, gathered officials from over thirty-five countries including representatives from the Indo-Pacific region, Africa, and various regional and international civil society organizations, and women, and youth groups.

The symposium highlighted the importance of the Women, Peace and Security and the Youth, Peace and Security Agendas in conflict prevention, mitigation, resolution, and peacebuilding. As a diplomatic body, ARF contributes to conflict prevention in the region by fostering dialogue and promoting preventive diplomacy among its twenty-seven participating countries.

The U.S.-led event, organized by the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs in partnership with the United States Institute for Peace, featured a welcome address by the Governor of Hawaii, David Ige, and sessions moderated by Assistant Secretary of State for Conflict Stabilization and Operations Anne Witkowski and Senior Official Katrina Fotovat from the Secretary’s Office for Global Women’s Issues. The event also featured keynote addresses by Ambassador Lisa Carty, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations for the Economic and Social Council; Air Commodore Christopher Robson, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command J5 Deputy Director for Strategy; and Steven G. Olive, Ph.D., Mission Director, Regional Development Mission for Asia at the U.S. Agency for International Development.