By Zou Shuo

A photo taken on July 21, 2022, shows the World Youth Development Forum (XINHUA)

President Xi Jinping called on July 22 for young people in all countries to promote common human values and facilitate the implementation of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

He made the remarks in a congratulatory letter to the World Youth Development Forum, which is being held from Thursday to Saturday. 

Around 2,000 youth representatives from more than 100 countries attended the forum's opening ceremony, which was held online and offline in several cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Nanjing. 

In the letter, Xi said that young people represent hope and they create tomorrow, adding that China always views young people as an important force in driving social development and encourages them to contribute to building a community with a shared future for mankind. 

Xi expressed the hope that the forum will be an important platform for young people to contribute to global development and for the world to drive youth development. 

He hoped that the forum would contribute young people's voices to promoting global unity and pool their strength in terms of global development and advancement. 

Young people in all countries should promote the common human values of peace, development, equality, justice, democracy and freedom, drive global development initiatives with concrete actions, facilitate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and together write a new chapter of global youth unity and cooperation, he said. 

At the High-level Dialogue on Global Development on June 24, Xi announced that China would hold the forum and jointly initiate the Action Plan for Global Youth Development to pool as much strength as possible for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

Themed "For a Shared Future: Promoting Sustainable Development with Youth and for Youth", the forum is hosted by the All-China Youth Federation. 

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said via video link that the forum is a great opportunity to bring young people together to shape solutions to some of the most pressing global issues. 

He said that although young people have suffered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have met these challenges with characteristic innovation, spirit and solidarity, reaching out to friends in need, supporting families and communities, tirelessly calling for progress and justice for people and planet alike, and urging world leaders to invest in a better and more equal future for all, and to get the Sustainable Development Goals back on track. 

He Junke, first secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China, said the Chinese government has always regarded young people as the future of the country and supported them in shouldering their responsibilities and making a difference. 

It has always prioritized youth development, formulated and implemented youth development plans, and pushed for comprehensive progress in related undertakings, He said, adding that there are 1.8 billion young people in the world, and they have great potential and energy. 

"The whole world should pay more attention to their voices, believe in their strength and support them in shouldering the responsibilities of safeguarding world peace and promoting prosperity and development," he added. 

(Source: China Daily)

Xi Jinping on Youth

• The youth represent hope and are the architects of the future, China always regards young people as the driving force of social development,

and encourages them to unleash their youthful vitality when paticipating in and promoting the building of a community with a shared future for

humanity.

— Excerpts from Xi’s congratulatory letter to World Youth Development

Forum on July 21, 2022

• Young people are like saplings that thrive on the earth, an done day they will grow into towering trees.

• Youth gives rise to infinite hope, and young people are the creators of a bright future. A nation can thrive and prosper only when it places hopes on its youth and maintains its youthful vigor.

• The Communist Party of China is a party that always maintains its youthful quality and is always worthy of the trust and following of young people.

—Excerpts from Xi’s speech at a gathering to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Youth League of China on May

10, 2022

• The future belongs to the young people, and our hopes also rest with them. A century ago, a group of young progressives held aloft the torch of

Marxism and searched assiduously in those dark years for ways to rejuvenate the Chinese nation. Since then, under the banner of the Communist

Party of China, generation after generation of young Chinese have devoted their youth to the cause of the Party and the people, an dremained

in the vanguard of the drive to rejuvenate the nation.

—Excerpts from Xi’s speech at a ceremony marking the centenary of the Communist Party of China on July 1, 2021

• Let youth blossom in the unremitting endeavors for the motherland,the nation, the people and humankind.

—Excerpts from Xi’s speech during a visit to Tsinghua University ahead of its 110th anniversary on April 19, 2021

• Young people are the future of a nation and of the world.

• High ambitions can stimulate your potential to forge ahead, so that you will not draft aimlessly like a boat without a rudder.

—Excerpts from Xi’s speech at a conference marking the centenary ofthe May 4th Movement on April 30, 2019

• The young are the hope of the country and the future of the nation.

—Excerpts from Xi’s speech at a meeting marking the 40th anniversary ofthe release of the Message to Compatriots in Taiwan on January 2, 2019