The conference was organized by the Youth Affairs Agency of Uzbekistan, attended by the heads of SCO, CICA, representatives of OSCE, UNDP, UN, UNODC and UNCTU, as well as more than 50 international experts and 300 young people from Uzbekistan.
B. Amreyev in his opening speech noted that cooperation in the field of Youth is not only one of the priority areas, but also a determining factor in the socio-economic and political future of the member states of the Turkic Council. He stated that preventing the involvement of Youth in destructive activities is one of the most important tasks of the Organization.
Expressed his gratitude to the Government of Uzbekistan for organizing such an important conference, Secretary General emphasized the timeliness of the initiative of the President of Uzbekistan H.E. Shavkat Mirziyoyev to adopt the “UN International Convention on the Rights of Youth”, which was put forward during the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly.
B. Amreyev highly appreciated the measures taken to radically reform and raise the State Youth Policy in Uzbekistan to a new level.
Taking into account that strengthening cooperation in the field of Youth is one of the most important directions of the Organization's activities, Secretary General stressed that the Turkic Council identified Preventing Violent Extremism as one of the main points of focus in its future strategies of the Youth Cooperation.
B. Amreyev emphasized that the notable results of the work of the Turkic Council was the creation of the «Youth Platform», aimed to unite Youth NGOs under the umbrella of Organization.
He noted that in 2016, together with UNAOC (The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations), we organized the International Conference “The Role of Youth in the Prevention and De-escalation of Violent Extremism” in Istanbul. The conference was attended by over 300 young people and experts from 40 countries and international organizations.
Secretary General introduced the participants to common problems of Youth in the countries of the Turkic Council.
The Head of Turkic Council also urged international community to do best to stop baseless and ignorant claims on Islam that are picturing it as interlinked with extremism and stressed that the focus should not be only on fighting extremism but also on the educating the Youth on the true values of Islamic religion. He said that fighting against extremism with Islamophobia in mind produces nothing but ignorance and hatred.
Secretary General concluded that on active involvement of young people in various multilateral projects and creating favorable conditions for self- realization, will positively influence on educations the Young generation in the spirit of universal human values as well as forming an ideological immunity against all kind of harmful influences, hatred, phobias and ignorance.
