Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will
inaugurate the two-day celebration of ‘Dhaka-OIC Youth Capital 2020’
this afternoon with participation of 100 local and 150 youths from
across the globe while 10 of them will get the ‘Bangabandhu Global
Youth Award’.
Minister of Culture and Sports of Qatar will hand over the OIC
Youth Capital Key from Doha to Dhaka at the virtual inaugural
ceremony, scheduled to start at 4 pm, while OIC secretary general will
join along with several ministers and signatories of a numbers of OIC
member states.
The celebration includes two-day youth summit titled “Resilient
Youth Leadership Summit” under the theme – ‘Parity and Prosperity: For
a Resilient Future’.
More than 1,200 youths from 74 countries had applied for the
participation in the youth summit, of which the organizing committee
has short-listed 250 participants, including 100 from Bangladesh and
150 others from OIC Member States and beyond, while proper gender
balance has been maintained reflecting Bangladesh’s commitment in
women empowerment.
These short-listed participants will connect with the expert
panelists from home and abroad to discuss how youth can be engaged to
combat COVID-19 in the first session on Monday and the justice and
accountability issue of the persecuted Rohingya population in the
second session on Tuesday.
At the end of the summit, an ‘outcome document’ will be adopted for
further youth action on the volunteerism and humanitarian ground.
“This event will be a great opportunity to project the positive
branding of Bangladesh highlighting the brilliant works of the youths
and share knowledge among the stakeholders,” foreign minister Dr AK
Abdul Momen told at a virtual international media briefing here on
Saturday.
Mentioning that the event coincides with the birth centenary of the
Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Dr Momen said
Dhaka will introduce ‘Bangabandhu Global Youth Award’ for 10 youths
who placed an outstanding contribution to different fields to
enlighten the global youths about the legacy and contribution of
Bangabandhu.
On December 25 last, the Istanbul based Islamic Cooperation Youth
Forum (ICYF), an entity affiliated to the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation (OIC), announced Dhaka as the “OIC Youth Capital 2020”
marking a significant recognition for the dynamic and determined
leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government in the youth
sector.
Bangladesh contested for the coveted title since May last year and
eventually was shortlisted – along with Kazakhstan and Tunisia – by
ICYF before clinching the title on December 25.