President to declare open World Youth Conference 2014
President Mahinda Rajapaksa will inaugurate the World Conference on Youth (WCF) 2014 at the Magampura Ruhunupura International Conference Centre at 9 a.m. today.
This is the first time that the WYC is being hosted by an Asian country. United Nations General Assembly President Dr. John W. Ashe and UN Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth Ahmad Al Hindawi arrived in Colombo yesterday to participate in the event.
Addressing the media at the Information Department yesterday, National Youth Services Council Chairman and WCY official media spokesman Lalith Piyum Perera said Dr. Ash is the first UN special delegate to visit Sri Lanka after seven years since UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon visited the country for the assessment of tsunami recovery in 2007.
According to the Chairman, 13 Youth Affairs Ministers representing Fiji, Cuba, Ambon, Algeria, Myanmar, Nepal, Afghanistan, Seychelles, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Donga, Crimea and Bulgaria had arrived yesterday. UN regional directors and deputy directors will also be in Sri Lanka for the conference. Youth delegates numbering 375 from 94 countries had already arrived in Sri Lanka. The first International Conference on Youth was held in 1936. Since then, 14 conferences have been held so far. The last was held in Mexico with the participation of 107 countries.