LEH: The union territory of Ladakh is set to host the first international event since its inception as the Y20 Pre-Summit will commence on Wednesday, where more than 100 delegates from 30 countries will participate to discuss pressing issues confronting the world’s youth and try to evolve a consensus on issues such as health, climate change and sports, among others.
Around twenty delegates from G-20 countries arrived in Leh on Tuesday for the three-day event, who were accorded rousing reception at KBR airport here. The delegates were welcomed by the senior officers of the UT administration and were shifted to respective places of stay for acclimatisation due to the high altitude location of Ladakh.
On Tuesday afternoon, Nagaraj Naidu Kakanur, Joint Secretary G20, Saugat Biswas, Divisional Commissioner, Ladakh; Pankaj Kumar Singh, Director, Youth Affairs; Manish Gautam, Director, PIB; Falit Sijariya, Representative of Y20 India Secretariat and Prof Rajendra S Dhaka, Chairman Indian National Young Academy of Science (INYAS) addressed the media at the Curtain Raiser of Y20 Pre-Summit in Leh.
Briefing the media, Joint Secretary, G20 Nagraj said that this engagement is primarily to deliberate on the issues which concern the youth of the world.
“It is a tremendous opportunity for India to have a pre-summit meeting to be hosted in Leh. The youth of today are very concerned about their future, there is heavy emphasis on climate change. Because this is the planet which is to be inherited by them in future. Also there is a lot of focus on health and sports. He added that Youth is participating from all over the world and tomorrow they have the opportunity to experience Leh and its beautiful culture,” said Nagaraj Naidu Kakanur.
“This is part of the G20 experience. They will take home the message from here across the world. Youth of today will be the decision-makers of tomorrow and we want to engage them to know their thoughts on several pressing issues,” he said.
“We have 11 engagement groups in G20 (spanning different spheres) like health, labour, civil, among others, and the inputs of the youth will be fed into the Leaders’ Summit to be held in September in New Delhi,” he added.
The Leaders’ Summit is the culmination of all the G20 processes and meetings held throughout the year among ministers, senior officials and civil societies.
Pankaj Singh, director, MYAS, said the participants here will negotiate on five thematic areas, namely, future of work, climate change and disaster risk reduction, peace building and reconciliation, youth in democracy and health and wellbeing and sports during the three-day programme.
“The most crucial programme will be on April 28 when in-house technical negotiations will take place among the delegates and finally the sports minister will interact with the delegates,” he added.
On the first day of the summit, the delegates will visit local places of importance including Hemis and Thicksey monasteries and Shanti Stupa, besides Pathar Sahib Gurudwara to understand local culture and traditions, Singh said.
“On the following day, LG Ladakh Dr B D Mishra will address the delegates at the inaugural function of the summit, at Sindu Sanskriti Auditorium here. The students of Ladakh will be felicitated as the practical in-house negotiations between delegates will begin this day,” he added.
On the third day of the pre-summit, Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Anurag Thakur will arrive in Leh and interact with the delegates and also participate in a youth dialogue—Yuva Samvad and discuss with them ideas and outcome of the exercise, he said.
He also said that the Summit will provide a platform for open discussions, presentations and interactive sessions that will focus on addressing the challenges faced by young people and formulating a roadmap for their development.
“We have partnered with 14 universities of this country where we have held negotiations where international students and speakers have participated. To extend the reach of Y20 events, Y20 secretariat has organised Jan Bhagidari events,” he added.
Saugat Biswas, Divisional Commissioner, Ladakh said that Leh administration has provided all support to make the engagement meeting a grand success.
“In the run-up to the event, the education department has organised several events, quiz competitions, discussions to engage youth on themes of climate change and sustainability and a lot of jan bhagidari activities have been organised in schools, colleges to engage youth,” Biswas said.
In line with PM’s vision of Carbon neutral Ladakh, delegates have been provided electric buses and electric cars for moving around, he added.
The Y20 pre-summit in Ladakh will be a valuable opportunity for the global youth to reflect on priority areas in consultation with G-20 member states to come up with policy recommendations that will prove beneficial to the Ladakh region, he said.
