Assam to host first Y20 Inception Meeting 2023 in Guwahati from today

HT Bureau

GUWAHATI, Feb 5: Guwahati will host the first Youth20 (Y20) Inception Meeting 2023 from February 6-8 under G20. The meeting will be held in IIT-Guwahati campus. The Summit will provide an opportunity to the students to voice up their opinions for the audience worldwide.

Union minister of youth affairs and sports, Anurag Singh Thakur will hold a ‘Youth dialogue’ with Y20 delegates followed by the launch of white paper on various themes.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma will also present research papers from students and academicians of Assam. In addition to this, technical sessions and deliberations will be hosted at IIT Guwahati.

Prominent speakers include Gen VK Singh, GP Singh, Hima Das, etc. Further, an ice breaking session will be held with Y20 delegates at Brahmaputra Sandbar island and eminent Singer Papon will perform at the session.

More than 150 youth delegates from G20 countries are set to participate in the three-day meeting. Over 12,000 college/university students are also expected to participate in these events. Every higher education institution in Assam will also be organising an awareness drive at 10 nearby schools to sensitise the schools about G20 groupings and functioning.

Y20 works with an aim to provide the youth a platform to raise their concerns on contemporary issues. The Y20 Inception Meet scheduled for Feb 6th-8th in Guwahati will lay the groundwork for programmes of Y20 during India’s G20 Presidency.

The Y20 themes are Future of Work: Industry 4.0, Innovation and 21^st century; Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction: Making Sustainability as a Way of Life; Peace Building and Reconciliation: Ushering in an Era of No War; Shared Future: Youth in Democracy and Governance; Health, Wellbeing & Sports: Agenda for Youth.

Started in 2012, the Y20 is the youth version of the G20 Summits and it is the only officially recognised platform for young people to engage with the G20 as it is one of the most influential international diplomatic forums for young leaders. It is also one of eight official engagement groups under the G20 umbrella.

The G20 rotating presidency bears the responsibility of hosting the youth summit, which usually takes place some weeks prior to the traditional forum to know what the youths are thinking and incorporate their suggestions in their own policy proposals. It is an attempt to create a connecting point between G20 governments and their local youth. The 3-day long Y20 Inception Meet will conclude on February 8, 2023.