TASHKENT, October 23. /IA "Dunyo"/. It is very important to involve young people in decision-making and planning processes related to their rights and interests, said participants in the Central Asian Youth Forum held today in Tashkent, reports a "Dunyo" news agency correspondent.

As the event participants noted, it is necessary to encourage the implementation and development of programs and projects aimed at ensuring equal opportunities for modern people, increasing their potential and improving their lives.

Acting UNICEF Representative in Uzbekistan Geoffrey Izhumba:

- As you know, according to statistics, more than 60% of the population of Uzbekistan are young people. Today, young personnel of Uzbekistan are participating in all the transformations that are taking place in the economy, social life, and political agenda of the country. Uzbekistan attaches great importance to the development of human potential. As part of this event, we discussed the issues of uniting youth into one big chain to achieve our goals for the development of the country. I am sure that Uzbekistan today is stronger than ever with its young personnel.

Youth Rights Specialist, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva) Daria Kosheleva:

- I am very glad to be here today at this event and to contribute to it, as we work with different states, including Uzbekistan, to promote the rights of youth. We see that Uzbekistan is making great efforts to promote the rights of young people, including at the international level. We fully support Uzbekistan’s efforts in this direction, and I am confident that this forum will further promote the rights of youth, both in Uzbekistan and the world as a whole.

Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on Youth Memet Jacquou:

- Today’s event is very important from the point of view of promoting the rights and freedoms of young people, both in Uzbekistan and in the world as a whole. Promoting youth debate is one of the activities of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to help young people learn key skills to promote peace and security. During the event, we discussed existing international and regional documents and mechanisms for the protection and promotion of youth rights. The established standards for protecting the rights of youth in international and regional documents were also discussed in detail.