Dhaka, July 27: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the two-day celebration of ‘Dhaka-OIC Youth Capital 2020’ Monday 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 panellists 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.