In Ashgabat in the building of the UN office hosted a video conference between Young ambassadors SDG Turkmenistan and Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations on youth Affairs Jayathma Wickramanayake, the newspaper "Neutral Turkmenistan".

Young SDG ambassadors include students and teachers from Turkmenistan's universities, as well as young professionals from various professional fields. The interaction of the UN office and national partners in attracting the youth of Turkmenistan to raise awareness of the sustainable development Goals is fully supported by various UN entities.

The main goal of this video bridge is to create a platform for exchanging views between the ambassadors of the SDG of Turkmenistan and the UN Envoy for youth Affairs, as well as the participation of Young ambassadors in the world youth forum, which is scheduled to be held in April this year.

The video meeting began with a greeting from the UN Permanent coordinator in Turkmenistan, Ms. Elena Panova, who noted the importance of holding such events to exchange experiences and opinions between young people from different countries and create opportunities for their cooperation at the regional and global level.

For its part, Jayathma Wickramanayake of the People welcomed the youth ambassadors of Turkmenistan. She was appointed youth Envoy by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in June 2017. As an Envoy, she directs her efforts to actively involve young people in the work of the UN in all its main areas-sustainable development, human rights, peace and security, and humanitarian activities. During the meeting, Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake spoke about her work as the UN Secretary-General's Envoy for youth Affairs and her experience in this area in her native country, Shri-Lanka. 

The key point of the video dialogue was the discussion of the role of youth participation in the UN-75 initiative. As you know, in January 2020, the year of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, this authoritative international Organization begins a global discussion of the priorities of comprehensive cooperation in building a sustainable future. This work involves activists from all over the world, who will initiate exchange campaigns in their countries and abroad, involving representatives of various segments of the population and age groups in the discussion.

Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake, stressing the importance of participation in this initiative of participants of the project "Youth ambassadors for SDG Turkmenistan," said:

"I have seen young people from all over the world gather under the auspices of the UN, put forward various ideas and action plans for what the world should look like in 2030. In fact, it is young people who will play a key role in achieving the sustainable development Goals. The project "Young ambassadors of the SDG of Turkmenistan" is a unique example, and I was pleasantly surprised when I learned about this initiative and, of course, I am glad to have the opportunity to communicate with representatives of the youth of Turkmenistan."

Jayathma Wickramanayake also recalled that in the fall of 2018, the UN Secretary-General announced the "beginning of a new era" for young people, launching a new strategy called "Youth 2030", as well as a corresponding initiative aimed at empowering young people.

Then the floor went to The young SDG ambassadors, who spoke about their experience. They highlighted the preparation of a voluntary national review of the SDG and described activities in which they had been actively involved.

For example, Ogulgerek Nazarova, a student at the International University of Humanities and development and a Young Ambassador for SDG 4 (Quality education), spoke in detail about her participation in the SDG children's festival in the city of Mary, a conference organized by the UN Children's Fund in honor of the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the rights of the child, as well as in SDG trainings for young people in Turkmenistan.

The meeting also touched upon issues related to the participation of Ambassadors in international initiatives, in particular, in the UN Youth forum and the SDG Young leaders program.