Intensive preparations are under way for the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to be held May 14-18, 2017, under the theme "Youth Economic Empowerment", to be attended by more than 2000 participants. The annual meeting will offer a significant opportunity to explore ways to help the Group's 57 member countries connect education to labor market requirements. The agenda of the meeting includes a Youth Summit, to be held May 15-16 at the Jeddah Hilton Hotel, aiming at shaping the future of youth and enhancing youth engagement in the socio-economic development. Participants include senior officials and major youth influencers, and youth groups of different specializations from member countries. "Inclusive human development is a key element of our 10-Year Strategic Framework. The 42nd annual meeting under the theme, ‘Youth Economic Empowerment', comes as a major occasion to achieve this by sharing experiences and best practices on education initiatives, and strengthening partnership with the private sector on youth empowerment," said Dr. Abdulhakim Elwaer, IDB Group spokesperson. "The annual meeting will offer a broad platform for decision makers from all our member countries to discuss the challenges and opportunities in education and skills development, and recommend strategies to provide youths with the relevant skills and competencies to meet the demands of the 21st century labor market," Dr. Elwaer added. The World Economic Forum, in its 2016 Report "Future of Jobs," has pointed out that in many countries, the most in-demand jobs or specializations did not exist 10 or even five years ago and that the pace of change is set to accelerate and will not stop, estimating that 65 percent of children entering primary school today will ultimately end up working in completely new job types that do not yet exist. In line with the theme of the annual meeting, IDB is looking to chart the path towards youth economic empowerment in all its member countries through workshops and flagship events, led by top-level panelists from the government, private sector, academia and the civil society. The annual meeting will give a chance to youth from member countries to take part in the workshops and different events in which high-level experts from private and public sectors, academia and the civil society will participate. — SG Apart from career-based education, key sessions will cover major topics of current relevance such as social media, youth health, agricultural entrepreneurship and Islamic finance. During the last 43 years, IDB has been a major contributor to education in a number of countries. In recent years, it has offered assistance in creating a Medical Education and Research Institute in Jakarta, Indonesia; supported education initiatives in Senegal and Somalia; provided electronic education facilities for 2 million children in Syria; and helped build better schools in Togo and Tajikistan. — SG
