In the presence of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, announced the Arab Youth Strategy.  

Representing a vision of Arab youth empowerment that serves to strengthen its leadership in different fields, the event was held with the participation of Her Excellency Shamma bint Suhail bin Faris Al Mazrui, UAE Minister of State for Youth Affairs, and a group of Arab youth representing 22 Arab countries.  

On the last day of the World Government Summit, HH Sheikh Mansour also announced seven initiatives aimed at achieving Arab youth strategy, stating; “The young Arab people are our advisers — to work on a strategy that targets them.  This is their responsibility as well.”  

The seven initiatives include the establishment of the Arab Youth Centre, led by young Arabs.  It will set its own annual agenda and publish annual reports and studies on Arab youth.  The Centre is to specialise in the organisation of meetings and events for Arab youth around the world, and will have branches in the Arab world.  

The second initiative is the holding of an annual Arab Youth Forum to discuss the aspirations of young Arabs, develop solutions to their challenges, exchange ideas and experiences and to celebrate young people’s achievements in various sectors.  

The third initiative is the establishment of an Arab Youth Opportunity platform that will bring together all opportunities available for young people to take advantage of them.  The platform gathers all development programmes, business incubators, volunteer opportunities and vocational work, etc.  

The fourth initiative is the publishing of an annual report answering the most important annual questions about youth.  This will display their aspirations and dreams, as well as the data to support the decision-making process.  

The fifth initiative comprises scholarships that will allow qualified young people to enrol in universities and pursue graduate studies around the world, thereby helping to train a leading generation equipped with science and knowledge.  

The sixth initiative will take the form of Youth Workshops, sponsored by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.  These will be seen as conversational platforms to enable interaction with young people, giving them an opportunity to express their opinions and impressions about their aspirations and challenges and to harness the positive impact of collective participation. 

The seventh and final initiative will be the creating of a platform for the collective participation of Arab youth that will rely on the crowdsourcing of skills and the use of young people’s capabilities in working on different development projects throughout the Arab world.