RIYADH — To make young Saudi voices heard and understood, the Y20 Youth Summit 2020 kicked off here on Sunday at the Misk foundation headquarters. Y20 Engagement Group, part of the wider G20, is hosting delegates in Saudi Arabia over the course of 2020 to discuss and develop policies for the benefit of young people around the world. The Muhammad Bin Salman Foundation (Misk) is chairing the Y20 in partnership with King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra). Saudi Arabia's Y20 sherpa and initiatives manager at Misk Foundation, Sarah Al-Khedheiri, started the event by introducing Henrietta Fore, executive director of UNICEF, for a fireside chat with the young people in the audience. Fore highlighted some of the biggest issues that the young were facing today, in particular the problems of climate change and mental health. She also talked about what UNICEF was doing to engage today's youth and provide more jobs for them. "At UNICEF, we're trying to think about how our programs are structured. We would love to see more young people working with us. It's a different way of thinking, but if we think it together, we'll get there," she said. Saudi Arabia's G20 sherpa, Fahd Al-Mubarak, one of the event's keynote speakers, told the audience that the G20 leaders were working hard on the agenda. "In Saudi Arabia, we are proud, privileged and humbled that we are leading the most important world economic forum, the G20. Therefore, since we started we have to decide what the priorities are that we want to address," he said. He stressed the importance of youth in society and stated that the G20 leaders wanted to hear from them. "We in the G20 look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas. We could not find a better team," he added. Saudi Arabia's Y20 chair, Othman Almoamar, welcomed the audience to "the coolest of the G20 groups" and spoke about the organizers' research efforts, their objectives and outlined the process of preparing for the summit. "This is what we're giving as a gift today to the future Y20," he said. The Y20 youth summit is a youth-led event that brings together young leaders from across G20 countries to discuss and debate the G20 agenda. The core objectives of the Y20 are to deliver the voice of the young to the G20, to include the younger generation in the G20 countries and beyond, and to increase sustainability, knowledge sharing and collaboration. Saudi Arabia's Y20 team have chosen to focus their activities around three key themes that complement the broader G20 goals: Future fit – preparing for the future of work and entrepreneurship; Empowerment – developing agile and dynamic future leaders; and Global citizens – promoting proactive, culturally sensitive problem solvers. The Y20 team also announced plans for a youth-led network, comprising young delegates from G20 countries and stakeholders from the private sector, academia and civil society, to develop a series of policy recommendations – to be delivered in the form of a communiqué - for consideration, approval and activation at the G20 heads of state summit. They explained how these discussions will be informed by new research by Misk and actionable White Papers developed with knowledge partners as well as a new database, planned as Saudi Y20's legacy contribution to future Y20s. The Y20 team is planning further activities during 2020, culminating in the Y20 2020 Summit in Riyadh from 12-18 October at which the Y20 Communiqué will be finalized for consideration at the G20 Leaders' Summit in November.
