In the Opening Session of the Plenary participated HE Mr. Dullas Alahapperuma, Minister of Youth Affairs and Skills Development of Sri Lanka and Mr. Li Yong, Director General of UNIDO. They underlined needs to create an inclusive youth participation platform that enables youth to review the progress of Millennium Development Goals, share ideas, experiences and innovation approaches for effectively contributing to the Post – 2015 agenda and its implementation. Such platform among other issues has to ensure consistent follow-up mechanisms with young people and further boosts their engagement and partnership in the implementation of the Post – 2015 development agenda at national, regional and global levels.
The members of the Panel Discussion were HE HRH Ms. Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol, Ambassador of Thailand, HE Ms. Ana Dengo Benavides, Ambassador of Costa Rica, HE Mr. Khaled Abdelrahman Abdellatif Shama, Ambassador of Egypt, Mr. Mohamed-Lamine Dhaoui, Director, Business, Investment and Technology Services Branch of UNIDO, Ms. Gillian Murray, Deputy Director, Focal Point for Youth Issues in UNODC and Mr. Janez Podobnik, Acting Director General of ICPE. The sum-up and valedictory remarks were done byHE Mr. Rachmat Budiman, Ambassador of Indonesia.
In his presentation “How to get sustainable youth for the 21st century?“ (ICPE Platform of Education and Partnership), Mr. Podobnik presented ICPE and its activities, with special focus on the programmes related to the education, knowledge and training of youth. These programmes, as Mr. Podobnik mentioned, will ensure development of capacities and skills of young people, which should help in creating more stable job opportunities, stronger impact of young people in decision-making process as well as their deeper influence in society. In the face of the challenges to the Post – 2015 agenda, Mr. Podobnik invited for cooperation and partnership with ICPE in concrete tailor-made projects corresponding to the needs of a particular country, community and counterpart institution as well as in developing strong partnership network, which should help in creating the future of youth, according to the needs and their expectations.
Accompanied with Mr. Nenad Stankovic, ICPE Representative in Vienna, Mr. Podobnik met H.E. Mr. Simon Madjumo Maruta,Ambassador of Namibia in Vienna, H.E. Mr. Juan Carlos Marsan Aguilera, Ambassador of Cuba in Vienna, and H.E. Mr. Hussam A. G. Al Husseini, Ambassador of Jordan in Vienna. The main subjects of those meetings were creating mutual programs and developing co-operation between ICPE and respected countries. During very fruitful and pragmatic discussions Mr. Podobnik underlined ICPE strong intention to develop projects and implement activities in accordance with concrete needs and requirements of the countries. Ambassadors appreciated received information and supported ICPE in efforts to establish closer co-operation with their responsible administrations.
Mr. Podobnik also had very fruitful and constructive discussion with Dr. Pradeep Monga, Director, Energy and Climate Change of UNIDO. It was discussed and agreed further steps in co-operation between two organizations, especially issues related to the new planned training on Energy Efficiency Solutions, which will be held in Ljubljana from 26 August to 3 September 2014. It was agreed to continue exchanging of information related to that specific training as well as other topics important for UNIDO and ICPE.
