Speech by George Yeo, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Heartware's Patron - Youth Champion and Citizenship Programme at the Official Ceremony to Announce Maybank's 3-year Funding of the Youthbank

1 I am delighted to join all of you here this afternoon to celebrate Maybank's 3-year funding of Youth Bank. A project of Heartware, the objective of Youth Bank is to promote youth volunteerism in Singapore.

2 Volunteerism is an indispensable aspect of citizenship. Without an active citizenry, a society cannot be strong. In Singapore, the spirit of volunteerism has grown in recent years. This is a healthy phenomenon. Responding to this, many corporations are now engaged in Corporate Social Responsibility programmes.

3 Maybank, which ranks among the top five big banks in Asia, is one such corporation. It believes strongly in community work. It is wonderful to see the way the bank supports youths, seeing in them a great hope for the future.

4 Through this S$500,000 sponsorship of Youth Bank, Maybank will help open up new opportunities for young people to learn skills, form networks and most importantly, develop a sense of responsibility to the wider community. The Youth Volunteer and Mobilisation Call Centre is the first project to be started. Riding on the means of communication popular with youths today, like emails, mobile phones and SMSes, the Centre will bring them together in a more effective and efficient manner.

5 This Call Centre will be manned by youths for the benefit of youths, which is in line with Heartware Network's philosophy of "youths for youths". The first batch of youth volunteer coordinators, mainly from Raffles Junior College, has already undergone training to provide volunteer management coordinating services to both volunteers and organisations of Youth Bank.

6 I hope our youth volunteers will quickly go beyond Singapore to link up with youths in other ASEAN countries. For ASEAN to realize our vision of an ASEAN community, it is important for the young citizens of our region to know one another and work together. Youth Bank by Maybank can play a significant role in raising the level of youth volunteerism in Singapore and Southeast Asia.

7 I congratulate Maybank Singapore and Heartware Network for your good work.

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