By Rafiq Vayani
DUBAI: Governments and the private sector should not prejudge young people as inexperienced and incapable if they are to succeed in future-proofing economies, said experts on day one of the Knowledge Summit 2018, noting that the youth have a unique set of skills that are crucial to today’s rapidly changing world.
Organised by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF) under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai, and the directives of MBRF’s Chairman H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Summit is taking place on December 5-6, 2018, at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
In the session entitled “The Youth: Leaders of Change towards a Knowledge Economy” Her Royal Highness Princess Sumaya Bint Al Hassan, Chair of the Princess Sumaya University for Technology; H.E. Mohammad Abu Rumman, Jordan’s Minister of Culture and Youth; and Syed Saddiq, Youth and Sports Minister of Malaysia, discussed how young people can be to be empowered to build the economy of the future today.
The youth have the capacity to adapt, innovate and disrupt markets, and so the barriers to their promotion should be deconstructed to enable them to advance based on merit and creativity rather than experience.
“They are the forces of change we are looking for,” H.E. Mohammad Abu Rumman told the session. “We need to build bridges of communication with them and give young people the freedom and opportunity to unleash their potential.”
In the past, youths in the Arab region were able to depend on government jobs, but this is no longer the case, so they need to be allowed to flourish based on their research, communication and creative skills, the experts noted.
“We will neither grow nor prosper unless we release and celebrate our collective human creative capacity, and to fulfil our potential we must not leave any one behind,” Her Royal Highness Princess Sumaya Bint Al Hassan said. “The future belongs to our youth and theirs is the knowledge economy, which will inevitably define our world in the years to come.”
The Knowledge Summit 2018 brings together over 100 speakers including experts, decision makers and stakeholders from around the world in more than 45 discussion panels.
