UAE Youth Global Initiative launched
Youth praise leadership for providing ample opportunities and great support for them to excel
His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, yesterday launched the UAE Youth Global Initiative to help Emiratis unleash their full potential to enhance the country’s reputation, spread awareness of its values, heritage and development drive.
The UAE affirmed its commitment to helping young people achieve their full potential as it celebrated International Youth Day (IYD) on Sunday, a global event that is marked annually on August 12.
Organised by the United Nations, IYD is focused on raising awareness on key issues and challenges young people face around the world, such as conflicts, poverty and lack of educational opportunities among many others. Working under the theme of ‘Safe Spaces for Youth’, this year’s IYD brought attention on the need to create safe spaces for young people, a place where they could join together without having to fear violence, discrimination and exclusion.
Gulf News spoke to youth from cross section of society in the UAE on this occasion.
“Young people have the ability to be global change makers, we are motivated and have a lot of fresh ideas that we can contribute to helping society and making the world a better place,” said Ali Lari, a 19-yearold Emirati who spoke on the importance of giving young people the chance to have a voice.
“Here in the UAE I am proud to say that our leadership have always been supportive of young people. Ever since I was in school I could always feel the government help for the youth, they have provided us with everything we need to excel. If young people are given the platform to succeed, this will enable us to give back to our country and go on to do great things,” he added.
Tingzuan Zhu, a 20-year-old Chinese student in the UAE, said that young people should never be underestimated in what they could achieve and bring to society.
“Young people are very passionate, we are also very opinionated, open minded, and willing to learn. I think the UAE does a great job in giving a voice and platform for young people to go on to do great things. For example, the country has a minister of youth and it also established a Ministry of Artificial Intelligence.
“It may sound cliché, but we are the future, in around 10 years time we are going to be the predominate ones in society, and so the support we get now will create a big impact when it comes to the future,” she added.
Malcolm Merchant, a 22-year-old Filipino student said he believed one of the main issues young people face today is finding jobs.
“I believe one of the pressing challenges young people face is finding the right job once they graduate, a job that matches their ambitions and what they studied while at university.
Theros Wong, a 21-year-old student from Hong Kong said her ambitions was to do what she could to help stop conflicts happening around the world.
“Everyone has the right to live in peace and dignity and an opportunity for a good life. If we look around the world we see a lot of conflicts taking place that are negatively affecting young people. The refugee crisis is just one example, countless of young people are being forced from their homes and being denied a good education.