KAMPALA | AFRO-ARAB | YOUTHS | OPPORTUNITIES

The State Minister for Kampala and Metropolitan Affairs, Kabuye Kyofatogabye, has urged Ugandans to take advantage of "new opportunities" presented by the Afro-Arab Youth Council (AAYC).

The council will celebrate its 18th anniversary this Thursday, with Uganda hosting the meeting.

Scholarships to study in the Arab nations of Egypt, Libya, Algeria, and Morocco are among the opportunities the minister talked of during his address at the Uganda Media Centre on Tuesday.

Besides a cultural center, Kyofatogabye said also part of the plan is to build a hotel and university dealing with the teaching of practical skills aimed at improving education in Uganda and attracting experts from each member state.

The AAYC is a platform uniting the youth of Africa and the Arab world and mobilizing them to participate in development programs within and outside their countries.

This year's dialogue is organized for these young people to promote the development agenda in their respective countries in terms of values, traditions, socio-economic interests, and culture.

Minister Kyofatogabye said the meeting will enable young people to tap into the markets for their products.

For instance, there is a sizeable number of Ugandan youths with carpentry skills who produce exquisite wood and art products that are good enough to be sold to external markets.

This year's dialogue is being marked under the theme Healthy Youth, Wealthy Nations.

Youths are being rallied to tap into opportunities in the hope that unemployment levels can drop.

Uganda’s unemployment rate for 2021 was 2.94%, a 0.17% increase from 2020. In 2020, it was 2.77%, an increase of 0.84% from 2019. Whereas 2019 was 1.93%, a 0% increase from 2018.

Dr. Abas Agaba, the general secretary of AAYC, told reporters that besides empowering the youth economically, the meeting will lay the groundwork for them to strengthen their political leadership and meet their mentors.

But he urged the youth to steer clear of chaotic politics, saying that it is unnecessary and that getting involved has the potential to rip apart otherwise promising career paths.

Agaba said that through the council, African states will gradually change and start delivering better leadership to their citizens than before.

"This is not a political group, but a council for every African youth to get better leadership skills," he said.

"Sudan is slowly recovering from the revolutions that have seen most of its people not develop."

The AAYC was founded on March 9, 2004, after the International Youth Festival for African and Arab Youth in Khartoum (Sudan), where a resolution was made to establish the council.

Four years later, in 2008, a fundamental decision was made that the headquarters be constructed in Uganda and festivals be held after two years.

The idea was unanimously supported by over 5,000 youth, with Presidents Muammar Ghaddafi of Libya and Yoweri Museveni present.

Gaddafi was chosen as the patron, but later, before his death, he handed over patronage to President Museveni, who is still the current patron.