Misk Global Forum concluded its participation, in the World Economic Forum, in Davos , which included a series of interactive discussion sessions, held on 22-25 January, witnessing youth businessmen and leaders representing government and private firms, from around the world, who participated in the discussions hosted by the Misk Pavilion, which dealt with variables of the global economy and future opportunities, in the light of globalization. The first of these sessions was held on Tuesday, 22 January, under the theme: "Skills for our future: Preparing for the unexpected", during which the key skills needed for growth, in a rapidly changing world, were discussed, in addition to how to build them, including success in the future economy, ways to strengthen curricula and learning of practices for young people, in order to provide them with the best technical and social skills. Second session, which was held on Wednesday, 23 January, was entitled: "Better Citizens: Can We be All Leaders", during which youth-related themes and the most important skills and principles needed to be influential as global citizens, were discussed, with the ability to shape the future, in the era of globalization, through working with partners, who help the youth to meet the challenges and achieve desired positive impact, at various levels. In the afternoon of the same day, an interactive session was held, in collaboration between Misk and First Peace, on helping young people to create an impact on achieving sustainable development goals and enhancing the role of entrepreneurs, in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and for the young people themselves to voice up and to promote their ideas, in various fields. On Thursday, January 24th, a new opportunity for more constructive discussion focused on the development of a promising generation of successful entrepreneurs, by analyzing the mentality and skills required for this goal and highlighting associated work ethics and showing how young people can build a strong support network that guides them, throughout the journey of their projects, as well as expected role of governments and companies to create a supportive ecosystem for young people. Panel discussion was held on Friday, January 25th, titled: "Future Economics' Engineers: How Young People Shape a Better World", aimed at identifying the role of young people, at the heart of change in the world, with transformation of societies and economies, which requires the new generation to possess new skills, knowledge and a broader and creative limitless outlook. The session focused on ways to empower young people to get better jobs, at the moment, and how to prepare them for the future of work, according to the best practices in the world. Speakers also discussed enhancing effectiveness of young's energies and their ability to shape a new, more just and more inclusive globalization, where young people are the drivers - not the passengers - in the journey towards the future economy. They also pointed to the need to pay attention to the speed with which the technological change that requires updating data on a monthly basis, with urgency to take care to accelerate the pace of learning and sustainability for life, and called for making more transformations leading to more effectiveness, in the face of future challenges that do not inviting young people to raise the level of communication with their counterparts around the world, to finally enjoy the degree of preparedness and mental readiness to make the right decision, always, in a timely manner. World Economic Forum has shown a series of statistics, most notably the fact that half of the world's population is under the age of 30, 90% of them are living in developing countries and 83% believe that they can change their situation and overcome problems they may face. While 64% said they value diversity and are ready for lifelong learning. The statistics have pointed out that more than two-thirds of the world's youth want to become entrepreneurs. On the other hand, yet, young people have shown a huge spending capacity totaling $2.45 trillion, in 2015, requiring companies and economies to prioritize innovation to meet the needs and interests of young people. Among major challenges addressed by the Misk Global Forum discussions, in Davos, were high intergenerational inequality, non-representation, at the decision-making level, and the rate of one out of every five youth was not involved in education, employment and/or training. Age category of 15 to 24 years old, is still suffers from unemployment, at a rate of three times of the age group 25 to 55 years old, was among resoundingly telling conclusions.
