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Commonwealth Secretariat press release

Commonwealth Youth Ministers and Young People Meet in Solomon Islands

20 May 2000

The 4th Meeting of Commonwealth Youth Ministers will take place in Honiara, Solomon Islands, from 24 to 26 May.

Ministers are expected to review progress in implementing the Commonwealth's Plan of Action for Youth Empowerment, which provides a policy framework to assist governments and the Commonwealth Secretariat in enabling young people to make the fullest contribution to national development and to their own self-fulfilment.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon, who begins a week-long visit to the South Pacific region on Monday 22 May, has reaffirmed the Commonwealth's commitment to empowering young people. "The young citizens of the Commonwealth are our future and our present," he said. "We need to ensure that they have the resources, the skills and the confidence they need to operate effectively and successfully in their own communities and the wider Commonwealth community."

Ministers are expected to discuss young people's economic enfranchisement and participation in decision-making, as well as HIV/AIDS, which Commonwealth Ministers last November identified as a global emergency.

Mr McKinnon will speak at the inaugural session of the meeting, and will also address the opening ceremony of the pan-Commonwealth Youth Forum taking place 22-23 May. Ministers will consider the recommendations of youth delegates to the Forum, as well as those of a ministerial review of the CYP on ways to ensure that it remains at the cutting edge of international youth development work.
 
While in the Solomon Islands, the Secretary-General will meet with the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minster and the Leader of the Opposition. The meetings are expected to include discussion of the Commonwealth's ongoing good offices role in Solomon Islands, which began last year after the outbreak of ethnic unrest on Guadalcanal Island.

After the Youth Ministers Meeting, the Secretary-General will visit Papua New Guinea, where he will meet the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister and the Minister for Bougainville Affairs, as well as the Leader of the Opposition.

En route to the South Pacific, the Secretary-General will transit through Brisbane, Australia, to visit the facilities for the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, to take place in Brisbane in 2001. The Youth Ministers Meeting is also expected to prepare a message highlighting current priorities and concerns in youth affairs for submission to the Brisbane meeting.

00/38 20 May 2000

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