Mr. Chair,
Excellencies,
Organizers of today’s event- the Slovak and Sri Lankan Missions
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are happy to join this briefing as part of the 2nd year of launching the “Youth 2030 Strategy”.
In 2015, the international community recognized the importance of youth to implement the Agenda 2030 as “agents of change”. The “Youth 2030” strategy, thus adopted in 2018 was a timely initiative that sought to engage young people, their views, insights and ideas in the UN system wide work towards the realization of 2030 Agenda. Bangladesh, being one of the fast track countries, is doing our part in giving our youth the opportunities to share their positive thinking and ideas through initiatives like “Generation Unlimited” and “Young Bangla” in building a future they want.
Mr. Chair,
The pandemic has upended the young peoples’ lives and aspirations. Education witnessed the biggest setback and may impact an entire generation of children and youth. We need to, therefore, factor in and accommodate the need of our young people in our response and recovery plans in the short and long term, find adequate resources for their education, learning, training, health, rehabilitation and other programmes to support them as well as to engage them in meaningful activities, life skills and employment through technical and vocational education and training (TVET) as we build back better. The UN Secretary-General said, “…we praise the younger generation’s resilience, resourcefulness and engagement which will be critical to bring us back on track.”
Mr. Chair,
This year, the annual ECOSOC Youth Forum could not be held here in April due to pandemic. Although postponed, recently the UN75 Youth Plenary was convened by the PGA on 9th September. We had other events namely on International Youth Day- which was its 20th anniversary, World Youth Skills Day etc being held virtually. All these events enabled us to hear what the young people want for them. As we observe the UN 75th anniversary this year, we shall take those suggestions on board for our work ahead. These deliberations will also help us to re-align ourselves for the implementation of the Agenda 2030 in the Decade of Action.
Mr. Chair,
Before ending, our delegation would like to thank Ms. Jayathma, Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth who is doing an excellent job as the Chair of the High-Level Steering Committee for the implementation of the Youth Strategy.
I thank you.