UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth Jayathma Wickramanayake sends greetings to young people of Uzbekistan on Youth Day (video)

On June 30, Uzbekistan celebrates Youth Day. To congratulate the young people of the country, UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth Jayathma Wickramanayake sent a congratulatory message to all the youngsters of Uzbekistan.

“Happy National Youth Day! I really wish I could be there in Uzbekistan today to join you in this celebrations but I am glad to share this message with you.

First of all, I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to the government of Uzbekistan, especially, to His Excellency, the President of the country, for the strong and continuous focus on youth. This is particularly represented by the state program “Youth is our future”, adopted a year ago and more recently by the youth focused program “Five initiatives”. These programs are pivotal in creating jobs for young people through facilitating and supporting youth business initiatives, start-ups, ideas and projects, training the unemployed young people for business skills and increasing their social and economic activation.

When you consider that over 60% of Uzbekistan’s population is composed of young people, it is essential to invest in youth. This year a staggering 800,000 young people will enter the job market. This is a record number and it highlights even further how important it is to invest in young people for the betterment of Uzbekistan.

As you may know, September last year, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres launched “Youth 2030” – the United Nations’ youth strategy. This is the first document of its kind and it is important not just for the UN, but for all young people as well. In fact, “Youth 2030” is already guiding entire UN family as it steps up its work with and for young people across three pillars: human rights, sustainable development and peace and security, leaving no one behind at any level.

It seeks to significantly strengthen the UN’s capacity to engage young people in the discussion on global matters and benefit from their views, insights and ideas.

The UN team in Uzbekistan is no exception. In fact, they are organizing themselves around “Youth 2030” to be a strong partner to the government of Uzbekistan in engaging, empowering and enhancing the skills of all young people in Uzbekistan.

I wish you all a great National Youth Day!” said Jayathma Wickramanayake.