United States Hosts Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Summit in Phnom Penh on Economic Empowerment

The U.S. Department of State and U.S. Embassy Phnom Penh hosted the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, December 6-8, 2022. This year’s Summit, implemented by The Asia Foundation, was the first in-person YSEALI Summit since 2019.

One hundred fifty emerging leaders from all ten Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states and Timor-Leste participated in skill-building workshops, networking, and activities focused on economic empowerment. YSEALI seeks to strengthen the partnership between the United States and ASEAN and supports emerging young leaders across Southeast Asia.

Participants explored ways to expand regional collaboration, advanced their leadership and business development skills, and learned from successful Southeast Asian entrepreneurs and experts.

During the Summit, U.S. Embassy Phnom Penh launched “Community Catalysts,” a small grants program for participants, which will fund the young leaders’ most compelling project proposals for implementation across ASEAN in the coming year.

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Follow Summit highlights at #YSEALICambodia2022 and @YSEALI_official.