Los Angeles, California, June 9, 2022 — Increasing public and private financing for projects that promote sustainable solutions for pollution reduction, and encouraging the development of technologies that contribute to preserving the environment through entrepreneurship – was one of the series of recommendations included in the final document of the Declaration of Commitment and Action Plan of the VI Young Americas Forum. The Young Americas Forum is one of the three official forums of the Ninth Summit of the Americas, which concluded on June 9 in Los Angeles, California.
Through the VI Young Americas Forum, the impact of youth empowerment was echoed by combining entrepreneurship, innovation and collective action to elevate their recommendations and innovative solutions around the theme of the Ninth Summit of the Americas: “Building a sustainable, resilient and equitable future”.
The audience had over 300 on-site participants, and 6,000 participants joining virtually. Them all, represented more than 35 countries. The audience included more than 200 Youth Delegates who simultaneously had a rich virtual dialogue to send their complementary contributions to the consultation process carried out until the time. Social media helped amplify the youth message with the hashtag #JóvenesEnLaCumbre and #YouthInTheSummit.
The two-day program consisted of a series of plenary sessions, panels and keynote lectures, whose discussion focused on the 5 C’s of Youth Development responding to the political commitments and transversal themes of the IX Summit of the Americas. In addition the Event showed entrepreneurship and youth action as tools for social and inclusive transformation.
About 65 hemispheric leaders from government, the private sector and young entrepreneurs gathered. Among them: Doug Emhoff, Second Gentleman of the United States; Antony Blinken, United States Secretary of State; Brian A. Nichols, United States Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere; Roy L. Thomasson, Founder of the Yabt; Ivan Duque Marquez, President of Colombia; Pedro Castillo, President of Peru; Erika Mouynes, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Panama; Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the OAS; Samantha Power, USAID Administrator; Isabella Guzman, SBA Administrator; Linda Thomas – Greenfield, United States Representative to the United Nations; António Vitorino, Director General of IOM; Erick Scheel, President of PepsiCo Beverages Latin America; Clark Rabbior, Head of Multilateral Affairs, Shopify; Fredy Vega, CEO of Platzi; Xavier Becerra, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services; Carissa F. Etienne, Director of the Pan American Health Organization; Elizabeth Nava, Commercial Director of Entelequia; Ismenia Abigail Trejos; Youth to Lead; Sara Aviel, President and CEO of the Inter-American Foundation; Valerie Lorena and Luis Viguria, Executive Director and CEO of YABT, respectively; among many others. For a comprehensive look of the agenda please click HERE.
“It is in this spirit of contributing and being part of the transcendental decisions that influence the present and future of our hemisphere that I call on our Member States, the partners of the Inter-American System, to make the meaningful participation of youth a source for building strong, resilient and inclusive societies,” said OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro.”
The Declaration was built as a result of four years of work and based on more than 168 youth dialogues with 5,540 young participants; 9,260 young people who responded to virtual consultations, campaigns and Policy Labs; 11,800 people from the Entrepreneurship in Action Component; 1,300 young people who applied to participate in the Hemispheric Forum in Los Angeles. The Declaration can be downloaded by entering HERE.
“Youth is not the future of people, youth is the present, and we must give them all the space (…),” said the President of Peru, H.E. Pedro Castillo.
Minutes later, the President of Colombia, H.E. Ivan Duque, highlighted in his speech “Young people need three things: capacity building, with new skills; real job opportunities; and empowerment.”
The VI Forum ended with a call to invest in youth, to follow up on the action plan and to generate public-private partnerships to create greater employment opportunities and support for startups as an alternative to migration.
Luis Viguria, CEO of YABT, closed by saying “Two o’clock in the afternoon, Los Angeles, Convention Center, plenary session of the Summit of the Americas: Your voice was presented to all the Heads of State, there you see Cecilia [Vilchis, presenting at the Summit].”
The path continues with an action plan put into practice, and where every young person is called to join the next steps of the VI Young Americas Forum. For more details, contact us via forum@yabt.net
Photo albums are available on YABT Flickr.
Recordings of both days are available on YABT YouTube.
