Tran Van Tinh
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Plans set for United Nations Youth Leadership Summit
March 27, 2006 @ 01:00 AM
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United Nations, New York, 1 March 2006 - Youth delegates from
Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean agreed yesterday on
plans for a unprecedented gathering of youth leaders from 191 UN
Member States at a United Nations Youth Leadership Summit in New
York in late October 2006 to mobilize their generation to help
achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), using the themes of
sport, culture and peace as entry points to reach out to youth
worldwide about the goals.
Mr. Mohan Lal Mittal, Founder and Chairman of Ispat Group of
Companies India and International, traveled specially to attend the
meeting as a sponsor. He told the youth delegates that he started
his career as a worker making $10 a month. He urged them to dream of
solutions to local and global problems, and said that they must have
self confidence to take on the big challenge of achieving the
MDGs. "I see a bright future for the youth of tomorrow," he said.
The planning meeting for the Summit was organized on behalf of the
UN system by the UN New York Office of Sport for Development and
Peace jointly with the Global Peace Initiative of Women, a New York-
based NGO. The Summit will include participation by two youth
leaders ages 18 to 30, one young man and one young woman, from each
country, who will be nominated by their UN Country Offices on the
basis of their experience and commitment.
Mr. John Gage, Vice President and Chief Researcher of Sun
Microsystems, said that the power of information technology can
greatly multiply opportunities for Summit outreach and
participation. As the technology partner for Summit, Sun is powering
the web site and will help link delegates and other partners.
The Summit received a strong pledge of support from private sector
sponsors, including Mr. Mittal, Mr. Gage and Mr. Hiroshi Matsumoto,
President of Inner Trip Reiyukai International (ITRI), a Japanese
foundation.
These three sponsors agreed to form a Council of Mentors that will
bring together prominent international leaders to advise the youth
leaders on Summit preparations and implementation of activities
decided on at the event, extending to 2015, the target date for
achieving the MDGs. The Council is chaired by Mr. Mohan Lal Mittal.
"You need roots in the reality of the tremendous challenges that our
world faces and wings to seek imaginative solutions to those
challenges," UN General Assembly President Jan Eliasson told the
young leaders. "You also need passion to mobilize your generation in
support of the MDGs and the search for peace and compassion for
those suffering from poverty and injustice." Mr. Eliasson also said
that he would assist an inter-generational dialogue between global
leaders and youth leaders at the Summit.
The UN Global Youth Leadership Summit will be the culmination of a
series of regional summits held in Africa, in Senegal (2004) and
Morocco (2005), in Asia in Japan in 2004, and in Latin America and
the Caribbean, in Brazil in 2005. The meeting also discussed
arrangements for regional consultations prior to the Global Summit
for Europe, the Arab States and North America.
For the Summit and follow up activities, Dr. Djibril Diallo,
Director of the United Nations New York Office of Sport for
Development and Peace, has forged a major public-private partnership
with global companies to leverage their experience and networks to
make the MDGs more achieveable.
UN agencies will be partners for the Summit, and UNICEF Deputy
Director Kul Gautum urged the meeting to consider an expanded "MDGs
plus" agenda that puts youth issues at its heart." Representatives
from a number of other agencies also participated in the planning
meeting, including the International Labour Organization, (ILO), the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United Nations Youth
Programme, and the United Nations University for Peace.
Other partners at the meeting were Mr. Driss Guerraoui, Special
Advisor to the Prime Minister of Morocco; Mr. Aliou Sow, Senegal's
Youth Minister; Ms. Carol Della Pente, Manager of Youth and
Educational Outreach for the Canadian International Development
Agency; Dr. Cary Goodman, Executive Director of Directions for our
Youth, a New York NGO; and Mr. John Yearwood, Treasurer of the
National Association of Black Journalists and World Affairs Editor
of the Miami Herald.
The youth delegates participating included Ms. Roja Fazaeli,
Regional Chair, South and West Asia; Ms. Barbara Hachipuku, Regional
Chair, Southern Africa; Ms. Solange Marquez, Regional Chair, Central
America and Mexico; Mr. Zied Mhirsi, Regional Chair, Northern
Africa; Mr. Yang Souriyo, Regional Vice Chair, North East and
Mekong; Mr. Geoff Cooper, Regional Vice Chair, Caribbean; Mr. Cedza
Dlamini, Youth Delegate, Pan-African Youth Leadership Summit.
For further information, please contact:
Richard Leonard, United Nations New York Office of Sport for
Development and Peace Tel: 212 457 1254; e-mail:
richard.leonard@undp.org
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