Saturday, August 20, 2016
Kabul (BNA) In a meeting with members of the youth parliament here the other day, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani congratulated them the advent of 97th Independence Day, a statement from the presidential palace said, adding that the President has also asked the members of youth parliament to join hands together and become a pressure group against corruption in the country.
“You trust in each other and are optimistic about future. The potential among youth to perform greater tasks was admirable and key to your strength was your unity,” the president said.
President Ghani asked the youth to make Afghanistan a united country and remove elements that spread differences, because the strength of Afghanistan was unity and the history proved that.
The president went on as saying that huge ability and capacity of innovation existed among the Afghan youth, adding that he is committed to serve the youth as their ambassador with proud and dignity.
The president said: “We should take full charge or our geography as Allah bestowed us with immense amount of natural resources and treasury which should be exploited for the benefits and comfort of the people of Afghanistan.”
He said the next year would be the year of youth and efforts were underway to stop youth from fleeing the country and seeking asylum in other countries.
“We should join hands and work for the elimination of corruption and be a pressure group against this menace as a result our revenue will See P4
increase and it was in the interest of youth than anyone else in the country,” the president noted. The president asked youth to prepare themselves for future leadership. He said war was imposed on Afghanistan, but nobody could impose defeat on Afghanistan.
Aqa Mohammad Quraishi, chairman of the youth parliament, said the unity government, in particular the President should prove the claims in practice that they were investing on youth and were trying to build their capacities on different levels.
Quraishi asked the upper house to establish an office for youth parliament in Kabul, adding that the provincial in-charges should consider them the same as the civil society representatives and media activists.
Speaking in the gathering, the Deputy Minister on Youth Affairs and Acting Minister of Information and Culture, Dr. Kamal Sadat said that youths support the National Unity Government’s (NUG) reformation and fight against corruption programs, adding that a campaign began to curb the bad tradition within the society.
Khalida Khelwat and Moqadesa Ahmadzai, the first and second deputies of the youth parliament also spoke related to the issue, asking the government to utilize youth’s talent in different spheres and provide them employment opportunities.
The youth parliament, an initiative of the youth affairs department at the Ministry of Information and Culture, was financially supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Based on the innovative program, 122 youth from across the country, including 33 girls, have found their way to the youth parliament with a two-year term.
Members of the parliament would hold a 4-day-session after every six months and pretending democracy is one of the objectives of the parliament. The first youth session, launched on last Sunday, was inaugurated by President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani.
