Spot CDAC: Young leaders call for more investment and opportunities for youth

Young leaders from around the world are calling for governments to invest in their youth and give full play to their role in civilization exchanges.

The forum "Responsibility of Young People in Carrying Forward Asian Civilization Heritage" was held on the sidelines of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations in Beijing on Wednesday, May 15, 2019. [Photo: China Plus/Li Yi]

Young elites from various sectors have shared their ideas on the potential for mutual exchanges among civilizations at a forum on the sidelines of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations in Beijing.

CRI's Li Yi tells us some of the big ideas being discussed at the forum.

The forum was focused on the role of young people as guardians of Asia's civilizations. It gathered nearly 300 elites from around the world working in sectors such as culture, the economy, the academy, media, and public welfare.

Yang Yang, the vice president of the All-China Youth Federation and the chair of the Athletes Committee for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, is interviewed at a forum on the sidelines of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations in Beijing on Wednesday, May 15, 2019. [Photo provided to China Plus by Zhang Longlong]

Yang Yang is the vice president of All-China Youth Federation and also the chair of the Athletes Committee for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games. She calls on young people to better know how the world is connected, and understand the importance of their responsibilities towards the future.

"Young people, they are the future of the human, of the us, of the earth. For young people, they have to understand how important we have to connect to each other as community and talk to each other, help each other and work together. Young people has to be here to understand what's going on now, and what's their responsibility for the future," said Yang.

Wong Yuee Harng, a member of the city council of Penang Island in Malaysia, encourages governments to invest in their young people today in order to tap into their future potential.

"We need to grow the youth and make them understand better what is going on in this world, especially in this region, Asian and the ASEAN region. Then they can understand each other and maybe do some good business in a positive way. People like to say, if you need to grow for the future, you need to grow the people. So I think youth is the target group to be focused by the government, no matter which country they are," said Wong.

Shalina Miah, the regional manager for Asia and the Pacific with United Nations Volunteers, suggests the contributions of young people are extremely important when it comes to the realization of the UN sustainable development goals.

"We need to nurture and celebrate diversity. I think that the role of youth is really paramount in order to carry forward the values and civilizations, and also to contribute to their achievement of the sustainable development goal as adopted in 2015 by the United Nations. I think the task of this sustainable development goal is extremely big. We need everyone to participate," said she.

Kenneth Fok, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and the vice president of the Fok Ying Tung Group, speaks during a forum on the sidelines of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations in Beijing on Wednesday, May 15, 2019. [Photo provided to China Plus by Li Zhengni]

Kenneth FOK from Hong Kong says that the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations has been a great opportunity for people to come together to brainstorm, and he encouraged people from more nations to join in.

"So having this event, it's not so much (about) the agenda, but more also the situation or the location to brainstorm. I see today a lot of people, next to me is a delegate from India, we spoke about our differences and similarities. So it's great that China is taking this initiative, but the key to success is more nations to join in this platform. Today is a great start. I look forward that moving on the future, more and more countries will join, maybe not just Asia," said FOK.