Concerns of the Maldivian youth takes to the South Asian Youth Summit

Maldivian youth has shared their concerns at the pre-summit held in Maldives for the South Asian Youth Summit (SAYS) set for September in India.

The South Asian Youth Summit being held on 17 September is organized by the International Youth Committee (IYC) with Indian government and Odisha governance. It provides the opportunity for the youth of the SAARC countries to gather at one place and share their concerns and challenges they face.

The summit also serves as a means to resolve the challenges at policy level and empower the youth and youth organizations along with working towards achieving sustainability goals set by the United Nations.

A series of pre-summits were held from Sunday onwards before the SAYS 2017 to present the concerns of the youth to the summit. And so, similar youth meetings were held in the Maldives as well.

The pre-summit meetings in Maldives was attended by the Chairperson of IYC, Dr. K.K. Singh along with officials from Pakistan and IYC Nepal.

The pre-summit delegation and some of the participants of SAYS members met with foreign ambassadors in the Maldives and youth from other SAARC countries living in the Maldives to discuss the challenges they face.

Talking to Sun Media regarding the discussions, the Chairperson of IYC, K.K. Singh said that the biggest concern of the Maldivian youth, similar to other SAARC countries, is the difficulty in finding employment. The other concerns include the destruction of the environment and drug related health issues.

Dr. K. K. Singh said that the hope is to get solutions to concerns of the youth at SAYS 2017.

And so the concerns of the youth with be presented and debated at the panels and conferences with the government ministers and other youth related institutes.

Maldivian youth are taking part in the SAYS 2017 through the Regional Alliance for Fostering Youth (RAFY) and the JCI Maldives. There will be 40 participants just from the Maldives at the summit.

The Maldivian Ambassador appointed for the SAARC Youth Summit, the Founder and President of RAFY, Aishath Rafiyya said that holding the pre-summit discussions in the Maldives was a success to the Maldivian youth.

She said that important things will be learned at the SAYS 2017 held in India next month.

380 representatives are taking part in the SAYS 2017, and observers from world powers such as US, Japan, China and the EU will be taking part in the summit.