The world’s young visionaries gather in Hong Kong for 5th ITU TELECOM WORLD 2006 Youth Forum
Students from Belize, Cuba, Gabon, Lao, Paraguay and Qatar join for the first time

Geneva, 25 September 2006 — Over two hundred and fifty young people from 150 countries are expected to attend the Youth Forum at ITU TELECOM WORLD in Hong Kong, China, from 3-8 December 2006. In its fifth year, the Youth Forum brings together students with the vision and talent to take on key leadership roles in the future within the global ICT (Information and communication technologies) sector.

Organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Youth Forum enables a woman and man of university age from each participating country or territory to attend the six day event, encouraging them to form global youth networks and share knowledge. The selection of each participant is based on an essay submitted to the ITU Youth Forum Advisory Committee on how to apply ICT to improve living conditions for people around the world.

Youth Forum Fellows (participants) will follow a packed programme of discussion and debate, with opportunities to interact and develop mentor relationships with senior members of the ICT sector — government officials, industry executives, technology leaders, content providers and strategists. They will elect their own leadership and, as a culmination to the week, will draft and present a Declaration and Action Plan conveying their global vision for expanding the benefits of ICT. Additionally, they will also have the opportunity to take part in ITU TELECOM WORLD 2006, learning about the array of new technologies on display on the Show Floor as well as taking part in key sessions at the main Forum (see here).

The Youth Forum Fellows are drawn from across the world with participants attending from highly developed countries as well as from some of the world’s least developed economies. This year the list of participants has grown to include, for the first time, students from Belize, Cuba, Gabon, Lao, Paraguay and Qatar. Essays submitted revealed the wide ranging needs for ICT to help with the world’s most serious problems. As one student from Bahrain said: "ICT should be combating the devastating trinity: poverty, ignorance and disease."

The Youth Forum is a regular feature at TELECOM events, and over its five year history has attracted outstanding university students, many of whom now work as professionals in the ICT sector.

"The commitment and passion shown by the Youth Forum Fellows is inspirational," said Fernando Lagraña, Executive Manager, ITU TELECOM. "The Youth Forum brings together forward-thinking, informed, compassionate young people from all over the world. The combination of their experience, background and insight makes for thought-provoking conversation and debate. I look forward to witnessing this year’s Forum discussions."

The People’s Republic of China, Host Country of ITU TELECOM WORLD 2006 and sponsor of the Youth Forum, is working with ITU to create a seminal experience for Youth Fellows. Fifty Young Ambassadors from China will welcome the Youth Fellows, encouraging cultural exchange and friendship building. In addition, the Young Ambassadors will act as young reporters, contributing articles and photographs of the conferences and activities.

ITU’s relationship with Youth Fellows does not stop at TELECOM events. ITU continues to nurture them through the Youth programme, helping facilitate scholarships and internships as well as collaborating with industry partners to support community projects designed by Youth Forum alumni. Examples of success stories reported by Youth Forum alumni can be found here.

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S. Acharya
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