Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 30 May, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev took part in the second international summit "Partnership for Green Growth and Global Goals - 2030" (P4G), held in Seoul in the format of a video conference.

The summit was held under the slogan “Inclusive Environmental Recovery Towards Carbon Neutrality”. During the representative forum, the issues of overcoming the consequences of climate change, "green" recovery after a pandemic, ensuring carbon neutrality, achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals and implementing the provisions of the Paris Climate Agreement were considered.

One of the central initiatives voiced by the head of Uzbekistan at the P4G summit was the proposal to launch a Special Program to attract young people to build a "green" economy to form a culture of "green" consumption.

The goal of the voiced initiative is to create favorable conditions for self-realization of young people who want to contribute to a "green" future, sustainable development and prosperity. For this, it is important to intensify efforts to increase the knowledge, interest and involvement of young people in the implementation of models and practices of "green" consumption. The younger generation must learn to live in harmony with nature and produce without harm to the environment, preserving the ecology and rationally using natural resources.

It should be noted that the "green" programs for attracting young people within the framework of P4G to build an environmentally friendly economy will allow in the future to increase the research potential of the partner countries of this platform and create favorable conditions for training a qualitatively new generation of qualified personnel in the field of "green development".

It is quite obvious that only by attracting young people to participate in the life of society and the state, supporting them in defending their rights, creating conditions that allow them to develop and play an active role, the international community will be able to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, ensure security, and an inclusive green development and effectively deal with the effects of climate change.

This initiative became a logical continuation of the active measures being taken in Uzbekistan, aimed at attracting young people to participate in the life of society and the state. Recently, in order to strengthen the regulatory framework of state policy in relation to youth, a number of laws and presidential decrees have been adopted in the country. The Agency for Youth Affairs, the Youth Parliament under the Senate and Oliy Majlis, and the Youth Academy under the Ministry of Innovative Development have been created.

In Uzbekistan, about 60% of the population is children and youth under the age of 30. Therefore, the head of our state pays special attention to supporting young people, providing opportunities for their self-realization and contributing to the future prosperity of the country.

Young people are a valuable and critical resource to invest in, as these investments will pay off many times over in the future. In the modern world, creative, proactive young people with modern knowledge and skills are the drivers of sustainable development. With the right investments in the development of youth today, it is these young men and women who tomorrow can become the driving force and the generation that will bring Uzbekistan to a new level of socio-economic development.

Madina Aripova

Leading Researcher,

Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies

under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan