YOUTH Ambassadors Adrian Alfred and Jewel Collier-Swan will be representing Guyana at the Fourth Caribbean Youth Leaders’ Summit in Belize.The summit is being held under the theme “Agenda 2030: From Rhetoric to Action!”, and would last from Tuesday, September 27 to Friday, September 30.

According to a release, prior to their departure, the two ambassadors met with the Minister within the Ministry of Education, Nicolette Henry.

This summit seeks to bring the voice of youth into the intergovernmental debate on how to make the post-2015 development agenda a reality. The summit is being convened by the Caribbean Regional Youth Council, in collaboration with the strategic public, private and international development partners.

The summit is a timely response stemming from dialogue coming out of the regional and international commitments that have been made at forums such as the Caribbean Youth Development Conference in Jamaica; the Commonwealth Youth Forum in Malta 2015; the Commonwealth-Caribbean Region Youth Ministers’ Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda in 2015; CARICOM 8th Directors of Youth Affairs’ Meeting in Guyana in 2016; and CARICOM Committee on Human and Social Development (COHSOD) – Guyana, 2015.

The objectives of the 4th Caribbean Youth Leaders’ Summit are: (1) to provide a platform for young leaders to engage in dialogue with stakeholders on concrete commitments and actions to realise the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the national, regional and global levels; and allow them to play an active role in implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

The forum will provide a platform for young people to discuss youth-led monitoring and accountability mechanisms for the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, and the measurement of youth participation throughout the SDGs.

The summit is supported by the United Nations, the United Nations Population Fund, the United States Agency for International Development, the US Embassy, PetroCaribe, Caricom, the Commonwealth, Caribbean Regional Youth Council, and the Government of Belize.