This paper aims to advance the knowledge in the domain of youth entrepreneurship and empowerment in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The rationale is to address the gap in knowledge on entrepreneurship and youth empowerment in the UAE by analyzing strategies and initiatives that support empowering millennials to achieve sustainable development, with the aim of promoting youth entrepreneurship and supporting sustainable economic development. The primary research question guiding this study is: “What strategies and initiatives in the UAE foster the empowerment of the millennial generation for sustainable development?” This study relies on a mixed methodology that combines a descriptive approach, content analysis, and data meta-analysis, with the aim of exploring the relationship between youth entrepreneurship and sustainable development in the United Arab Emirates. with a focus on the future sustainability leaders (FSL) program. While the FSL program demonstrates its significance in promoting youth entrepreneurship and empowerment, it also reveals certain limitations in its design and implementation that may hinder sustainable economic development. To address these challenges and support youth entrepreneurship, the paper proposes three essential action-oriented approaches: promoting participatory diversity and engagement, managing entrepreneurship drivers, and ensuring access to essential support mechanisms. These recommendations are intended to guide multilateral agencies, voluntary sectors, and private entities in the UAE in designing, evaluating, and implementing effective youth entrepreneurship programs. This paper underscores the importance of continued discourse and critical input to refine existing theories and establish a normative framework for youth entrepreneurship and empowerment. Such efforts are crucial for poverty reduction, sustainable development, and the promotion of intergenerational equity.

In the contemporary landscape characterized by technological advancements and a progressive economic environment, the utilization of currency has undergone a paradigm shift. Despite the growing prevalence of digital currency, its adoption among the Vietnamese population faces several challenges, including limited financial literacy, concerns over security, and resistance to change from traditional cash-based transactions. This research aims to identify these challenges and propose solutions to encourage the widespread use of digital currency in Vietnam. This research adopts a quantitative approach, utilizing Likert scale questionnaires, with a dataset of 330 records. The interrelationships among variables are analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The analysis results substantiate the viability of the research model, confirming the hypotheses. The findings demonstrate a positive relationship and the significance impact of factors such as perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived trust (PT), social influence (SI), openness to innovation (OI), and financial knowledge (FK) to intention to use digital currency (IUDC). Thereby aiming to inform policymakers, industry stakeholders, and the wider community, fostering a deeper understanding of consumer behavior and providing solutions to enhance the adoption of digital currency in the evolving landscape of digital finance.

In the present and future of education, fostering complex thinking, especially in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is critical to lifelong learning. This study aimed to analyze learning scenarios within the framework of a model that promotes complex thinking and integrated design analysis, to identify the contributions of linking design models to the SDGs. The research question was: How does the open educational model of complex thinking link to the SDGs and scenario design? The analysis examined a pedagogical approach that introduced 33 participants to the instructional design of real-life or simulated situations to develop complex thinking skills. The categories of analysis were the model components, the SDGs, and scenario designs. The findings considered (a) innovative design capacity linked to SDG challenges, (b) linking theory and practice to foster complex thinking, and (c) the critical supporting tools for scenario design. The study intends to be of value to academic, social, and business communities interested in mobilizing complex thinking to support lifelong learning.

The trilateral defense and security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States has strong impact to the security dynamics in the Indo-Pacific area. This agreement entails a strengthened alliance between Australia and enhanced military collaboration with the United States and the United Kingdom resulting in regional volatility. This paper aims to examine the AUKUS (Australia–United Kingdom–United States Partnership) agreement and the resulting ensuing instability in the Indo-Pacific region, specifically from Indonesia’s perspective. The focus of the research is on the interplay between Indonesia’s diplomacy capability and the military functions of the Indonesian Navy as security policy. This study employs a qualitative approach to delve into in-depth insights into the evolution of AUKUS in the Indo-Pacific region, which triggered a series of responses from many countries subsequent to the announcement of the establishment of the AUKUS Defense Pact. The AUKUS establishment simply reinforces the notion that geopolitical tensions are pulling the area apart. The influence of the AUKUS-China war can jeopardize regional stability since the US and China continuously demonstrate the supremacy of their armaments in order to dissuade one another. The AUKUS-China contest has had a highly adverse impact on Indonesia. This article argues that the Indonesian Navy’s diplomatic prowess is crucial because it has the potential to play a big influence in the Indo-Pacific region’s international political dynamics concerning the South China Sea. Furthermore, the Indonesian Navy must proactively prepare for potential armed conflicts in Indonesian territorial seas by developing a comprehensive maritime policy during times of peace, leveraging its geographical advantages.

While infrastructure provides necessary public services and is vital for the socio-economic development of a nation, public funds alone cannot finance all infrastructure needs in society, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, where many countries are facing budget deficits. Although private financing schemes, such as public-private partnerships (PPPs) and land value capture, have been considered intensively, they have yet to produce adequate private capital flows to infrastructure projects due to a lack of incentives for private investors. Against the background, this paper proposes a new financing mechanism in which governments might divert some of the increased tax revenue from the spillover effects of newly constructed infrastructures to fund the private sector through grants or subsidies. The empirical work in Vietnam shows a significant increase in tax revenues after completing two expressways, supporting our idea about spillover effects, which includes small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) development. This study’s results suggest that spillover effects can bring new opportunities for governments and multilateral development banks (MDBs) to implement infrastructure projects with greater private sector involvement in the region. It also proposes some financial schemes, such as land capture and financing for business startups, including SMEs, to enhance the spillover effects of infrastructure.

This study explores the advancement of ethical practices and environmental sustainability in Thai banking through an in-depth case analysis of Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), the country’s first indigenous bank founded in 1907. SCB has significantly influenced ethical banking practices and sustainability initiatives. The research provides a unique comparative analysis of SCB’s ethical frameworks and sustainability policies, assessing their impact on key stakeholders, including customers, employees, the community, and the environment. Employing a qualitative case study methodology, this study utilizes secondary data from SCB’s reports and CSR documents, analyzed through thematic analysis and descriptive statistics. The findings reveal SCB’s substantial progress in aligning ethical considerations with environmental sustainability, contributing new insights into ethical decision-making processes and the balance between profit and responsibility. Recommendations are provided to enhance ethical and sustainable practices in banking, adding to the discourse on corporate responsibility, environmental stewardship, and sustainable development.