The high-level event organized by the Permanent Missions of Sri Lanka and Portugal, together with UNESCO, ILO and the Office of the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth under the theme “Skills for the Future of Work”, brought together distinguished ambassadors, representatives of diplomatic community, UN entities, youth organizations and civil society.

In his opening remarks, President of the UN General Assembly H.E. Peter Thomson, emphasized: “Investing in young people, and realizing the demographic dividend, is one of the most effective, long-term and exponential investments Governments can make to achieve the 2030 Agenda and realize a future that is safe, secure and prosperous for all."

Speaking on behalf of the UN Secretary-General, Ms Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti, Chef de Cabinet, said: “Young people are some of the greatest change-makers and innovators we have. We must help young women and men to achieve their potential not only for their own sake, but for all of us, and our communities and societies.”

Ms Marie Paule Roudil, Director of UNESCO New York, joined the speakers in quoting Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General: “Access to quality education and skills training has never been so important to ensuring a future of dignity for the world’s young generation – our ultimate renewable resource. This must be our shared commitment on World Youth Skills Day, and we will be mobilizing our networks of technical vocational education and training institutions in more than 150 countries to pass this message.”

Joining the high-level event, the newly appointed UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Ms Jayathma Wickramanayake stated: “With the 2030 Agenda, Member States have committed to substantially increase the number of youth who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship. They recognized that without skilled and employable young people, our chances of achieving the Goals are greatly diminished.  It is time to take that commitment seriously.”

Representing Sri Lanka, the Permanent Representative H.E. Mr. Amrith Rohan Perera underlined: “What we need at this hour is a ‘Skills Revolution’ in which young people are rapidly adapting to the fast-changing world of work by acquiring necessary skills.”

In speaking about the future of work, Mr Christophe Perrin, Director of the Department for Multilateral Cooperation, ILO, quoted Guy Ryder, ILO Director-General: “We are being challenged to broaden our global discourse and explore how we can use these transformations to bring about new, quality job opportunities. We must anticipate emerging demands for new skills which will have an impact on education and training systems that respond effectively to new forms of work and, most importantly, the role work has in our lives.”

The panelists concluded that with improved education outcomes, relevant skills and competencies, and access to decent jobs, youth can help accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, fostering a prosperous, sustainable and equitable socio-economic environment for all and building peaceful and inclusive societies.

Today, over 71 million young people are unemployed. Around 40 per cent of the world’s active youth population is either unemployed or living in poverty despite being employed.

Since 2015, World Youth Skills Day provides an opportunity for representatives of Member States, the United Nations system, the private sector, civil society and youth organizations to share lessons learned and best practices on strategies to address and meet future skills needs.

This year as a part of the global campaign, World Youth Skills Day is celebrated throughout UNESCO UNEVOC Centers network in around 150 countries. UNESCO is supporting national governments in developing public policies that affect youth, for example policies on Technical and Vocational Education and Training that directly affect youth employability and related prospects, as well as through supporting networks of Associated Schools called ASPNet.