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Addis Ababa,
September 23, 2007 (WIC) – The youth can benefit from the
social, economic and political activities of the country by
operating in an organized manner, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi
stressed.
While responding to questions
raised by youth drawn from the various woredas and towns
across the country today, Prime Minister Meles said the youth
need to get organized in their respective states and at
national level to alleviate their social, economic and
political problems.
The youth need to particularly
make organized efforts to actively engage in the
administration of schools and places of work in their
respective localities, he said, adding that organized forums
are needed for this purpose.
Meles indicated that the
government has the commitment to support organized activities
of the youth and stressed that legal and standing forums
should be established so that the youth can permanently
discuss issues with administrative bodies at different levels.
The plan which provides for the
establishment of these forums has been included in the youth
package and will be implemented soon, the Prime Minster said,
adding that training has been given to administrative bodies
at all levels to implement the package while replenishing the
leadership with trained manpower is underway.
He further stressed that the
youth need to equip themselves with knowledge and education to
assume administrative positions and render better leadership.
The economic problems of rural
youth is related to scarcity of land and the government has
understood that the development support which the government
used to make for rural areas focused only on the household
level and that the youth were highly marginalized, Meles
underscored.
Therefore the government is
implementing a rural women and youth development program to
alleviate the problem, he said and added that efforts are
underway to promote alternative income generating activities
like agriculture not based on land and micro as well as small
-scale enterprises.
Meles said conflicts over
pastureland and water in pastoralist areas can be solved
mainly through ensuring the sustainability of development and
added that joint plans of neighboring woredas should be
implemented in order to solve such conflicts.
He further noted that due
attention should be given to raising the education and health
service coverage of states like Afar and Somali and reiterated
that youth in all states should contribute their share to the
success of the development plans.
More than 6,000 youth attended
the forum. (END) |
