Youth Network working sessions on youth and trade

Alongside the WTO Public Forum and one of its three sub-themes "The next generation — what do Millennials & Gen Z want to see from global trade", youth members of the UNCTAD Youth Network will hold working sessions at UNCTAD premises to advance the different activities they carry out with UNCTAD.

Working sessions will be conducted covering the following:

• Third UNCTAD Youth Forum - to take place in Barbados in 2020 during the UNCTAD 15 Conference. Participants will kickstart preparations of the Forum.

• UNCTAD Youth as influencers who can change the narrative on sustainable development. Participants will identify ways in which the talents of youth can be deployed to create a culture of inclusion and sustainability in trade and economic development.

• Youth Action Hubs in motion: Coordinators and members of the Youth Action Hubs Initiative, supported by UNCTAD, will also discuss how to further advance the work and objectives of the Youth Action Hubs.

Since 2016, UNCTAD offers a platform for young people aged between 18 and 30 years old to exchange views and share outcomes with the international community under the name Shaping the World We Want. This is done with the principle "for youth, with youth".

The platform has grown into a global network of young men and women who, as a group, participate in important youth events such as the UN ECOSOC Youth Forum, UNCTAD Ministerial Conferences, regional and national events, and who act at the local level to advance the SDGs.

As influencers who want to change the narrative around sustainable development for an inclusive world, youth launched the Youth Action Hub Initiative that is supported by UNCTAD at the second UNCTAD Youth Forum in October 2018.

Youth from 36 countries worldwide participate in this initiative and have created over 40 Hubs with the objective to contribute to issues on the international agenda and manage sustainable development related projects at community level.

UNCTAD Youth Network members will participate in the WTO Public Forum 2019. Meetings with government officials will also be organized.

The working sessions will be organized and facilitated by Prof. Désirée van Gorp, Chair International Business, Nyenrode Business University , the Netherlands, and the UNCTAD Youth Network Coordinators.