Mayor Suh,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Around the world, youth in both developed and developing countries, face disproportionate exposure to poverty and unemployment.
Today, almost half the world's population is under the age of 25, and nearly a quarter are aged 12 to 24.
Of those aged 12-24, nearly 40% live on less than two dollars a day;
Estimates suggest that 75 million youth globally are neither in employment, education nor training. That figure accounts for 41% of total global unemployment.
Ensuring that young people are adequately equipped to participate in and contribute to a country's economic and social development is therefore essential in building stable and resilient societies.
However, research points to a growing skills mismatch, which is to say that graduates leaving schools and universities don't have the necessary skills to meet the demands of the workplace.
ITU believes that ICT skills and training are now core competencies in any graduates skill set, without which they cannot hope to progress in their future careers. Furthermore, the proliferation of digital services and applications has created a new niche, a new digital industry if you will, that offers space for young people to find employment in an exciting and rapidly growing field.
The Republic of Korea and Busan City in particular are recognized leaders in this field, with strong academic institutions focused on training the next generation of ICT innovators. Yours is an example from which many others can learn;
That is why we are proud to announce the signing of this MoU, which will ensure the necessary framework for ITU and Busan City to work together on issues related to youth and ICTs;
In particular, the MoU will see us working together in three distinct areas:
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Promoting the engagement of youth in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), encouraging them to enroll in technical subjects which allow them to pursue careers in the ICT sector;
- Decreasing the digital divide, by exploring ways of connecting the unconnected and ensuring that marginalized groups such as youth have unfettered access to ICT tools and applications;
- Promoting research on emerging ICT technologies, particularly Internet of Things (IoT), to ensure that young people are involved in helping us innovate the future of the sector;
Ladies and gentlemen,
At ITU we are always on the lookout for ways of brining young people closer to our work.
This is why we were so excited by Busan City's proposal to integrate young people into the PP-14 conference, as well work together on this very important topic in the longer term.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Busan City for their support to the Young ICT Policy Leaders programme at PP-14.
Your kind sponsorship has made it possible for young people to participate in the conference via their national delegations, and is helping ITU to empower and engage with the next generation of ICT policy makers, who will be shaping both national and international policy for years to come;
ICTs play an integral role in addressing the problems that youth face today and they have the power to create a more stable and prosperous world for our children. As both a father and Secretary-General of the ITU, I am excited about the future that we are committing to here in Busan.
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