Message from Professor Kip A. Cates - AYF International Chairman

Welcome to AYF! The Asian Youth Forum is an exciting network of Asian young people dedicated to international understanding and exchange. Each AYF event brings together college youth from countries throughout Asia for seminars and workshops designed to promote global awareness, cross-cultural understanding, social responsibility and world citizenship. The AYF aims to build a network of concerned young people who can work together - in their own countries, with other Asian youth and with young people around the globe - to build a world of peace, tolerance and cultural respect. AYF events focus on a number of themes: language and communication, culture and international understanding, social and global issues, and leadership training.

Through AYF, you'll encounter a variety of exciting people, languages and cultures. You'll meet youth from countries ranging from Thailand, Japan and India to Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam. You'll also develop new skills, make international contacts and build cross-cultural friendships. If we truly wish to create an Asia - and a wider world - free of prejudice, poverty and pollution, then we need to reach out and work together with others for solutions. AYF provides one way to do this. The Asian Youth Forum, then, is a unique opportunity to meet new people, to communicate in foreign languages, to experience other cultures and to tackle important global issues. As a director and founder of AYF, I invite you to join our AYF family and help us with this exciting challenge!