Problems of youth should be addressed -Lalith Weeratunga

by Naalir Jamaldeen

The strength, faith and the imagination of young people are precisely the elements that uplift our societies and communities and make them resilient, stable and richer and countries would be poorer if this potential is harnessed Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga told the plenary session of World Conference on Youth 2014. "It is apparent that the youth, as a significant group of the world population, and their problems have to be adequately addressed, not only for global development to progress, but also to enable them to add value to the development process," Weeratunga said.

Addressing the plenary session on "Mainstreaming Youth in the Post-2015 Agenda: He said that it is really refreshing to see local youth interacting with international youth.

"Thus, empowering young people, socially, economically, intellectually and politically, across all divides, is critical to see tangible progress in global development post-2015." "People tell you that you are the leaders of tomorrow," Ms. Loftus said. "You do not have that luxury. You have to be leaders today. The post-2015 agenda is our chance to shape what we want our world to look like." Executive Director and Assistant Secretary General for the UN Human Settlements Program (UN-HABITAT) Ms. Aisa Kirabo Kacyira emphasised the importance of having a permanent mechanism to address youth related issues.

Besides Kacyira said that this kind of conferences are a clear indicator that the youth are involved in the social process and also added that Sri Lanka has done an amazing job by hosting this conference.Minister of Youth Affairs and Skills Development. Dullas Alahapperuma and. Douglas Ragan, Project Manager for Research and Analysis of UN-HABITAT were also present at the plenary session.