UN High-Level meeting on Youth kicks off today with Kuwaiti participation

UNITED NATIONS, July 25 (KUNA) -- A UN High-Level meeting on youth kicks off today Monday with the participation of Heads of State, Ministers and other government officials.
Kuwaiti Chairman and Director General of the Public Authority for Youth and Sports, Faisal Al-Jazzaf will participate in the meeting, as well as representatives from 400 youth groups and young artists from all over the world.
The General Assembly decided in a resolution last March to hold the two-day meeting to discuss a wide range of issues of concern to the younger generation which represents a significant proportion of the world's population.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, General Assembly President Josheph Deiss, the international supermodel Alek Wek, who was born in South Sudan, and Brazilian youth representative Romulo Dantas are scheduled to address the event.
The gathering was convened to mark the In ternational Year of the Youth, and will have the overarching theme of "Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding." It will comprise two consecutive informal interactive thematic panel discussions on Monday and two plenary meetings on Tuesday.
The first panel discussion on Monday will be on the theme of strengthening international cooperation on youth affairs and enhancing dialogue, mutual understanding and active participation to achieve social integration, full employment and poverty eradication.
The second panel will be on the challenges to youth development and opportunities for poverty eradication, employment and sustainable development.
The event also comes a few days before the International Youth Day (IYD), celebrated every year on August 12.
This year's theme is "Change our world," which is meant to be a call to inspire youth initiatives at all levels with the idea that efforts at the local level can have a global impact, especially that Youth these days a re well attuned to modern forms of communication that connects them worldwide at an unprecedented speed.