Pakistan Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani on Tuesday stressed upon creation of an enabling environment for the young people to succeed and said that a path for a more sustainable, peaceful, prosperous and fairer Commonwealth could be achieved by 2030.
In his opening remarks at the 10th Commonwealth Youth Ministerial Meeting Plenary Session as chairperson, the foreign minister said that the meeting was significant as youth ministers have not met since 2017 and so much had happened in the world since that time.
He appreciated the vision of the Commonwealth member leaders in making this the year, a year dedicated to youth-led development.
The foreign minister said that they had recommended the theme ‘Aiming Higher, Delivering More for young people in the Commonwealth’ for the current meeting.
The theme expressed the combined aspiration and commitment of the Commonwealth family to invest in and promote young people’s development, particularly through the creation of opportunities for youth employment and entrepreneurship, recognizing that the future success of the Commonwealth rested with the continued commitment and contributions of young people in promoting and sustaining the Commonwealth, and its values and principles as enshrined in Article 13 of the Commonwealth Char-ter, Foreign Office Spokesperson, in a press release, quoted the foreign minister as saying.
The foreign minister said: “We live in a ‘Young Commonwealth’. (In my own country, Pakistan, almost 70 per cent of our citizens are under 30 years of age. I believe we have one of the youngest popu-lations in the Commonwealth). Our work here, in the next few days, would have made a difference in the world.”
Foreign Minister Jilani highlighted that that all Commonwealth member states had taken significant steps to educate and train youth, empower girls and raise awareness about climate change.
From Pakistan’s perspective, he said the Prime Min-ister’s Youth Programme (PYMP) was a flagship programme of the government, prioritizing youth empowerment.
It strove for mainstreaming and inclusion of mar-ginalized youth; particularly girls, religious and ethnic minorities; persons with disabilities and transgender community, he said and shared the key steps taken in this regard.
The foreign minister said that as Commonwealth member states, they would discuss and implement a robust set of policies and programmes which would help them achieve the targets and goals, set out in the SDGs.
For this meeting, he said four sub-themes were identified for consideration including engagement, education, employment and environment. —APP
