Over its four-hundred-year history, Saigon has been home to hamlets of rice farmers, a fortress for opulent dynasties, a trading hub for a thalassocracy, a gloried symbol of communist revolution and as of right now, the capital of one of the world’s fastest growing economies. The Vietnamese have survived a maelstrom of Mongol invasions, endured blazing napalm infernos and triumphed against the world’s greatest superpower. For the Vietnamese are much like Byron’s phoenix rising from its ashes. They are, in the truest sense of the word, resilient.

It is in Vietnam that we see a microcosm for the rest of Asia. Much like Vietnam, most Asiatic nations have chased away the cannons of colonialism, scuffled with the scythe of socialism and tussled with tanks of tyrants. Today’s Asia is more than a geographic region. It is a patchwork of diverse, relentless, ever-evolving survivors.

This Asiatic spirit - one of resilience, reform and revolution - has triggered transformation across the continent. As the crank of time turns, prosperous petrocracies replace the barbarian clans of the middle east, thriving technocracies are built upon the rubble of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the world’s largest democracy has been established from the jewel in the crown of the British Empire. Today, Asia steps into the limelight, its nations flourishing with robust economic growth, social development and cultural advancements. Welcome, one and all, to the Asian Century.

However, as Hubert Humphrey once said, Asia is not only rich in people, culture and resources. “It is also rich in trouble.”

As the trotting race horses of China and India begin to gallop, the hurdles they face will become more critical, and certainty more daunting. While the China may flex its 12 trillion-dollar economy, it continues to tryst with totalitarianism, curbing civil liberties in Xinjiang and Tibet. The dark shadow of pollution looms across India’s bustling capital. Asian frontiers find themselves in a state of flux, century old international relationships in a state of limbo, and coffers of developing nations in a state of disarray. Asia is in dire need of stability and sustainability, collaboration and unity. If we are to continue to grow, and outlive the Asian Century, we must communicate, debate, discourse, not only domestically, or with our Asian allies, but on an international scale.

Undeniably, the concerns raised on the fate of Asia demand an answer, and delegates, it is up to you to give one. The destiny of your continent, and the world, rests in your hands.

The stage is set, the curtain rises, we are ready to begin.