Oum Chendapheakdey (C, L), head of human resources, and Bun Yin (C, R), deputy general manager and head of commercial banking at CIMB, with Cambodia’s future leaders. Photograph supplied

The future looks bright and encouraging if the enthusiasm of Cambodia’s young leaders is anything to go by, as they get set to attend CIMB’s Young Leaders ASEAN Summit 2012 in Jakarta on September 17 and 18.

A joint initiative by CIMB Foundation and CIMB ASEAN Research Institute (CARI), the event is aimed at developing future leaders across ASEAN by engaging them in a forum where they will discuss regional issues, particularly those in relation to the ASEAN Economic Community to be formed in 2015.

Four students were selected to represent Cambodia at the summit where they meet with “young leaders from all 10 ASEAN countries and feature conference speakers that include representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat, Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Malaysia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore and CARI”, according to a statement released by CIMB.

Tiv Bunmarany, an accounting student at Pannasastra University of Cambodia, is eager to go on her first trip abroad. “For sure it’s a great opportunity to study other cultures and meet students from other ASEAN countries,” she said.

The shared experience and chance to see more of the world is a collective feeling among the others going. Tann Buravin, a student at the Royal University of Law and Economics and the Royal Univesity of Phnom Penh Institute of Foreign Languages: said, “Of course, I’m excited. It’s a very big event, and I’m a young girl from Cambodia. I hope to learn, share some ideas and represent Cambodia well.”

All four see the summit as a move in the right direction for their futures, especial Tang Lim Chhoung who is an accounting student at the University of Cambodia. He said, “It’s my first time abroad and it’s the first steps towards my future and the wider world.”

None of the four could go to Jakarta were it not for CIMB and CIRA, which all of the students were grateful to, as Sok Vanseka a graduate law student from the Royal University of Law and Economics noted. “I’m really thankful to CIMB for offer us this chance and to take us abroad.”

The summit was described as “another way that we demonstrate our commitment to ASEAN. This region must strengthen political, social and economic ties between its constituent nations and for that we need future leaders who appreciate the importance of integration and are inspired to make it happen,” by Dato’ Sri Nazir Razak, group chief executive of CIMB Group, in a statement.

CIMB Group is Malaysia’s second-largest financial services provider set up the CIMB Foundation as a non-profit organisation in order to implement CIMB Group’s corporate social responsibility and philanthropic initiatives.

The foundation focuses on long-term sustainable growth and giving back to society with initiatives aimed at “empowering communities in a transparent, measurable and accountable way to enable them to stand on their own”, according to the statement.