Making their voices heard at the 15th Brics Summit, young people across the member states have called for the establishment of a Brics Youth Council.
Source: National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) chairperson Asanda Luwaca.
Addressing the summit currently underway in Johannesburg on Wednesday, 23 August, National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) chairperson Asanda Luwaca said the recent 9th Brics (Brazil, Russia, India China, and South Africa) Youth Summit reached a consensus on the establishment of a youth council.
“This will allow us to ensure deeper and stronger collaborations among young people. We thus implore that this summit endorse our proposal for the establishment for the Brics Youth Council in its final declaration in ensuring that new pathways for positive change and innovation can be realised.
“In doing so, it will further ensure that no young person among the Brics member states gets left behind. Young people in their collective believe that youth are the present and the future. Our interaction as Brics member states cannot and should not be limited to an annual summit,” Luwaca said.
Taking place under the theme: “Brics and Africa: Partnership for mutually accelerated growth, sustainable development and inclusive multilateralism”, the summit is being attended by the leaders of Brazil, India, China, as well as South Africa, as the host.
Empowering youth voices in post-pandemic society
Noting that young people make up the larger proportion of the population of each of the Brics countries, Luwaca emphasised that the voices and views of the youth are critical as nations forge a post-pandemic society at the highest making forums.
“We believe that the Brics countries in general and youth in particular should use their collective strengths to prioritise the development paradigm, using as a guiding principle our work as we continue the intra Brics cooperation across areas such as trade, education, skills development and training, economic