Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said: “Half of the 1.8 billion people in the Commonwealth are under 25. These are the generations which are inheriting the challenges my generation has left them. It is they who will see out this century: our task now is to equip and empower them to do that.”
Youth Ministers Meeting to focus on peace-building
26 April 2008
7CYMM will be the first Commonwealth ministerial meeting to be attended by Kamalesh Sharma since taking office on 1 April 2008
Ministers of Youth, senior government officials and youth representatives from around the Commonwealth will meet in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 27-30 April for the 7th Meeting of Commonwealth Youth Ministers (7CYMM).
Under the theme, 'Youth and Peace-Building', they will debate emerging issues related to young people in the Commonwealth, in particular the links between peace-building, youth development and social transformation. Delegations from some 40 Commonwealth countries are expected to attend.
The meeting will also be an opportunity to review policy directions for the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) and enable ministers to review current activities towards strengthening the agenda for youth development. Mandates from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting last year will provide a focus for discussions, particularly the findings of the Commonwealth Commission for Respect and Understanding. "Young people are the inheritors of a changing world - its economic distributions, social positions, cultural identities and historical narratives," the Commission said in its report, Civil Paths to Peace, published last year.
7CYMM will be preceded by meetings of the Pan-Commonwealth Regional Advisory Board and the Pan-Commonwealth Youth Caucus, as well as a skills-building workshop focusing on the gender and youth dimension of peace-building, and a stakeholders' meeting on youth mainstreaming.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said: "Half of the 1.8 billion people in the Commonwealth are under 25. These are the generations which are inheriting the challenges my generation has left them. It is they who will see out this century: our task now is to equip and empower them to do that."
7CYMM will be the first Commonwealth ministerial meeting to be attended by Mr Sharma since taking office on 1 April 2008. When first elected at the Heads of Government Meeting in Kampala, Uganda, in November 2007, he stressed that the issues facing young people in the Commonwealth would be a priority under his leadership.
While in Sri Lanka, Mr Sharma is scheduled to call on President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, Minister of Foreign Affairs Rohitha Bogollagama, and Opposition Leaders Ranil Wickremesinghe for bilateral talks which includes issues of regional and Commonwealth concern.
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