The summit for the Youth 20 (Y20), the official G20 engagement group dedicated to young people, is getting underway in Italy today.
The group, which has seen over 1 million young people engage in various consultations internationally, will be holding its summit in Italy for the first time from 19 to 23 July.
The Y20 is one of the engagement groups of the G20, a forum comprising of 19 countries and the European Union that works to promote international economic cooperation. Alongside the other engagement groups including the Business 20, Think 20, Women 20, Labour 20, Urban 20, Civil 20 and Science 20, the Youth 20 has an important role in submitting formal recommendations to the G20 Presidency before the G20 summit.
This year, the Summit of the G20 Heads of State and Government will take place in Rome on October 30th and 31st.
The Y20 is currently managed by Italy’s Young Ambassadors Society, a non-profit association promoting dialogue and cooperation between young people in the world, with the support of the Italian Government. The key priorities being focused upon by the group this year include;
- Inclusion
- Sustainability
- Climate Change and Environment
- Innovation
- Digitalization
- Future of Work
The summit this week, which is being live-streamed online, includes a number of panel discussions and debates, with a range of guests including executive directors from UNICEF and the World Bank, the UN’s Women Ambassador for Africa, and a number of key Italian ministers.
Following consultations, workshops and debates on the key topics of focus, Y20 delegates have put together a communique (an official statement of recommendations), which will be presented to the Sherpa G20 Ambassador Luigi Mattiolo on Friday.
Earlier this year, the Y7 summit took place online ahead of the UK’s presidency of the G7. Having a similar role to the Y7, the Y20 summit comes at a particularly important time for young people to make their voices heard, with young people around the world being among the worst impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, with the loss of education time and important life experiences.
