Conference of World Bank: Young People in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (21-26 May 2007)

A large regional conference of World Bank about Young People in Eastern Europe and Central Asia was held in Rome, from 21 to 25 May 2007. Conference was attended by 250 participants, representatives of government institutions and youth organizations from 30 countries in the region.  

Delegation of Bosnia and Herzegovina included representatives of the B&H Ministry of Civil Affairs with Deputy Minister Senad Sepic, and NGO representatives Ljiljana Predragovic (POP) and Jan Zlatan Kulenovic (OIA), who was one of 6 debaters at plenary sessions. Besides them, B&H also had a representative on behalf of Romany organizations, as well as 4 out of 20 finalists in the innovative grants competition of WB and Nokia.

Italy’s Prime Minister Romano Prodi opened the conference. A large number of officials from international organizations and countries’ governments also took part in this conference, among whom were also the two vice-presidents of World Bank.  First part of the conference was dedicated to the topic of employment, while the second part focused on participation of young people in society and their activation. Third part concentrated on exchange of experiences with certain sub-regions, and giving of awards of WB/Nokia for 10 best projects out of the 20 from final round.  It is necessary to compliment representatives of B&H in this competition, who were by far most successful among 30 participating countries in this competition, since they won 3 out of 10 awards for their projects (value of each project is approximately $ 10,000).

One more important thing is the acknowledgement related to OIA. In the official report of WB related to this regional conference, OIA was referred to as one of 3 examples of good practice in the entire region (30 countries) in the field of youth activation and increase of their participation in society!

Further information about the conference program may be found the web page of World Bank –titled Young People in ECA Region – From Policy to Action.

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