World Youth Skills Day 2026: Skills for a Shared Future

Excellences, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, young leaders, friends—Happy World Youth Skills Day! How do we respond? You got the vibe.
It's an honor to welcome you to the International Libre Office for the United Nations, on the occasion of World Youth Skills Day 2026.
I am Cynthia Samuel-Olongo, the ILO Special Representative to the UN, and it's really a great pleasure to be your moderator for today's important event, which is co-sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Portugal to the United Nations, the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and of course our sister agencies, UNESCO and the UN Youth Office, and they both happen to be my brothers and my friends.
We're really grateful for the continued collaboration and unwavering commitment to this important agenda.
As we start the opening session, I'd like us to please ponder on these 3 key reflections.
First: World Youth Skills Day is beyond preparing young people for tomorrow's jobs; it's about recognizing them as essential partners in shaping today's, as well as tomorrow's, world.
I'm reminded of Mohammed, a young man from Yemen whose dreams were interrupted by conflict.
In the factory where he worked closed, he found himself unemployed, and he was so uncertain as to what would come next.
Through an ILO Quality Apprenticeship Program, he trained in solar panel installation and maintenance.
Mohammed acquired more than technical expertise; he developed the confidence to start over.
He gained the entrepreneurial mindset to establish his own business, the resilience to overcome adversity, and the skills to support not only his family but to contribute to his community.
Looking back, Mohammed summed up his journey in a few simple words, and I quote him: "The apprenticeship has changed my life.
" Mohammed's story reminds us that the skills young people need today go far beyond mastering a particular occupation or technology; technical skills matter.
However, we also need core skills—core human capabilities— that enable people to adapt, to solve problems, to communicate, to collaborate, to make informed decisions, and seize opportunities throughout their lives.
These are the skills that turn learning into opportunity, and turn opportunity into decent work, and decent work into social justice.
So that's the first point to ponder.
The second point is that the world of work is undergoing profound transformation.
Across every region, young people are navigating extraordinary changes: artificial intelligence is transforming how we learn and how we work.
Climate change is reshaping economies and livelihoods.
Demographic shifts, technology, global uncertainties are changing the pathways to opportunity.
And this complexity—one of them stands clear— within this complexity is one of them stands clear: young people are not only adapting to change; they are already helping to shape how societies respond to it.
The ILO has long recognized the broader purpose of skills development.
Convention 142 concerning Human Resources Development calls on countries to design skills policies that not only prepare people for employment but also strengthen their ability to understand and influence their working and social environment.
And I'm really thrilled that the IOE is here and will also represent—will also have—the ITUC represented, and kudos to them.
The adoption of the groundbreaking Convention 193 on decent work in the platform economy, where governments along with workers' and employers' organizations have taken a historic step to ensure that technological innovation goes hand in hand with the protection of rights, with decent work, and with sustainable economic growth.
Third, and the final point to ponder: young people need support to lead the process of building inclusive workplaces and societies.
They need the confidence to make informed choices about their futures, the creativity to solve new challenges, the resilience to navigate uncertainty, and the values to ensure that innovation serves.
They need the skills to prepare them for collaboration, for leadership, for active citizenship, and meaningful participation in their communities.
As AI automates more routine and analytical tasks, the capabilities that are more distinctly human become even more important.
We're talking about empathy, communication, critical thinking, teamwork, intercultural understanding, ethical judgment, and the ability to build trust.
All these are the fundamental human capabilities that are required for young people to be able to lead effectively in building the kind of societies and workplaces that we need.
We enable young people to work alongside technology while ensuring that innovation remains grounded in human values and serves the common good.
Excellences, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, friends and colleagues, investing in young people's skills is ultimately an investment in more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable societies.
By equipping young people with the skills required to realize their aspirations, we advance the commitments outlined in the SDGs and the Doha Political Declaration, which was adopted at the Second World Summit for Social Development.
With these reflections, we will continue with the opening segment, and it will be followed by an interactive panel discussion.
Thereafter, the floor will be open for comments and for questions.
It will even be open for disagreements, as long as it's not violent.
First, it's my pleasure to welcome His Excellency, the Permanent Representative of Portugal to the United Nations, Mr.
Rui Vinhesh.
I got it? You got it perfectly.
It's not easy, the first.
We took lessons.
I took lessons from him.
And Your Excellency, you're invited to deliver your remarks.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, dear Cynthia.
Thank you also for the good mood early in the morning.
It's good to.
And let me also start with thanking the organizers: since 2014 at Portugal-Sri Lanka, the SGA Voice on Youth, UNILO, and more recently the UN Youth Office have been joining efforts to commemorate this day.
And we welcome this year's theme, "Skills for a Shared Future," which— I have to put it like this— I was trying to be young, but I'm not.
Which aptly recognizes that preparing young people for the future requires more than technical expertise alone; it requires equipping them with digital, green, social, emotional, and civic competences necessary to thrive in increasingly interconnected, complex, and rapidly changing societies.
My country firmly believes that investing in youth skills is investing in social cohesion, economic resilience, democratic participation, and sustainable development.
As artificial intelligence, digital transformation, and green transition reshape our economies and societies, ensuring that all young people acquire relevant, future-oriented skills has become both an economic imperative and a matter of social justice.
In Portugal, we have pursued a comprehensive approach to skills development that combines education, vocational training, digital inclusion, and lifelong learning.
Through our national education and training system, and our technical and vocational education and training pathways, we have sought to strengthen the connection between education systems, labor market needs, and aspirations of young people themselves.
Portugal has also placed digital skills at the center of its national strategies.
Through the recently adopted Digital Skills Pact, added into the Portugal Digital Strategy, we aim to ensure that by 2030, at least 80% of our population possesses basic digital skills while simultaneously finding opportunities for advanced technological specializations in areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data science, cloud computing, and robotics.
This effort is being pursued through broad partnerships involving public institutions, educational establishments, businesses, and civil society organizations.
At the same time, we recognize that the future of work will also require stronger human competences.
We therefore continue to promote educational training approaches that foster critical thinking, creativity, intercultural dialogue, civic engagement, adaptability, and collaborative problem-solving.
These skills are indispensable not only for employability but also for strengthening democratic societies and promoting peaceful and inclusive communities.
As we commemorate this day—World Youth Skills Day— we reaffirm that young people must be regarded not merely as beneficiaries of skills policy, but as active partners and co-creatives of our shared future.
Their perspectives, your perspectives, creativity, and leadership are essential to building societies that are more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable.
And prosperous, by the way.
Portugal stands ready to continue working with members of the UN system, educational institutions, employers, and above all, young people themselves, to ensure that every young person has access to the skills, opportunities, and support necessary to contribute meaningfully to our common future.
Happy World Youth Skills Day to everybody.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you so very much.
Thank you so much.
The importance of partnerships, the economic imperative of scaling, so that young people are co-creatives in shaping our shared futures.
And we have, in terms of partnerships, we have the employers here, we have the workers' organizations here, we have representation of young people, and we have key partners sitting at this table.
Once again, thank you very much, Your Excellency, for those remarks.
Now I'd invite Mr.
Vithanesh Chattura Perera, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations.
Please you have the floor.
Thank you, Madam Moderator.
Cynthia Samuel, ILO Special Representative of the UN.
Excellency Rui Vinhesh, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Portugal.
Dr.
Philippe Elier, SGA for Youth Affairs, and Mr.
Elliot Inschenberg, Director of the UNESCO Liaison Office of the UN.
And Ms.
Neela Ippumu, Young Leader for the SDGs, Co-Founder and President of Pastori.
Colleagues and young leaders, very good morning to all of you.
It is my pleasure to join the international community in commemorating the World Youth Skills Day, a day that reminds us that investing in the skills of young people is investing in a more prosperous, peaceful, and sustainable future.
Sri Lanka as a country that presented the proposal for the World Youth Skills Day to the UNGA in 2014 extends its appreciation to ILO for hosting this year's observance of World Youth Skills Day.
We also thank the Permanent Mission of Portugal, the United Nations Youth Office, and UNESCO for their continued commitment to advancing this vital agenda.
This year's observance comes at a pivotal moment.
The world is being transformed by rapid technological advances, particularly digital technologies and AI.
While these developments offer unprecedented opportunities for innovation and economic growth, particularly in digital technologies and AI, they also challenge us to prepare young people for the future.
Skills development today must go beyond technical proficiency; it must equip young people with the ability to adapt, innovate, and collaborate in an interconnected and technology-driven world.
This calls for a holistic approach that integrates digital literacy, AI competencies, critical thinking, creativity, and ethical reasoning.
Sri Lanka recognizes that preparing our youth for the future requires an education and training system that bridges these diverse competencies.
We continue to strengthen technical and vocational education and training as one of our national priorities, expand digital learning opportunities, and enhance partnerships.
Our objective is to ensure that every young person in the country has access to quality, inclusive, and future-oriented learning opportunities.
Similarly, international cooperation remains indispensable.
By sharing knowledge, investing in capacity building, fostering innovation, and promoting equitable access to emerging technologies, we can empower youth to contribute meaningfully to sustainable development and the SDGs.
As we mark World Youth Skills Day today, let us reaffirm our shared commitment to equipping every young person not only with the technical skills that are required for employment, but also with the digital, AI, social and emotional, and intellectual competencies that will enable them to shape a future that is innovative, inclusive, ethical, and resilient.
It is our collective responsibility to ensure that every youth possesses the knowledge, values, and skills that lead that transformation with confidence and purpose.
In conclusion, I thank all participants and distinguished panelists for their contribution.
I look forward to hearing from you in the coming session.
I thank you.
Thank you so much, Your Excellency, for those remarks, but also special thanks again to the Government of Sri Lanka for that resolution that enabled us to have this day set aside to celebrate, and for the consistency over the years, along with Portugal on working hand in gloves with the UN Youth Office and with UNESCO.
Thank you so very much.
And we heard you very clearly: it needs to go beyond technical, and in investing in skills, we're investing in building more prosperous—Prosperity, you highlighted—peaceful and resilient societies.
So now it's my pleasure to invite Ms.
Neela Ibrahimi, the Young Leader for the SDGs and Co-Founder and President of Her Society.
Ms.
Ibrahimi, you have the floor.
Thanks so much.
It's an honor to be here.
Thank you, everyone, for coming.
I'm Neela.
I'm with World Education Council, originally from Athens, and now based in Canada.
And for years, I've used storytelling to raise awareness about issues back home.
My advocacy journey began at 13, when the Education Directorate of Kabul banned girls over the age of 12 from singing in public.
I was in Afghanistan at the time, and as a passionate singer, I saw this as one more step back into a dark chapter— darker chapter—of my country's history.
So I protested the only way I knew how, and posted a video of myself singing and encouraged other girls to do the same.
Two weeks later, to my surprise, the decision was reversed.
That was a defining moment.
I knew the backlash protesters routinely face in my country, but I chose to act anyway because it was the right thing to do.
That moment set off an entire journey of advocacy, and it all started with her.
I didn't learn that from a textbook; I built it because the moment demanded it.
And looking back at everything since—speaking on world stages, sitting across from leaders and experts like Ines Perera, meeting other young people trying to build a better world for the generations after them— the thread running through all of it is the same.
It was never the technical knowledge that opened these doors.
It was the ability to listen closely, find the right words, to build trust with someone who owed me none of it.
Empathy, communication, leadership— those are the skills that travel with me no matter where my diverse interests take once I graduate university.
Whether that may be a courtroom, a policy office, or the UN, these skills are what let me keep learning, keep adapting, growing alongside people very differently.
And I embrace this because I think it's the exact question this room exists to answer: what do young people actually need going forward? To meet a future none of us can actually predict.
You ask an AI expert what students should be studying right now, you will hear nearly the same answer every time.
They say creativity, resilience, adaptability, and a working familiarity with the tools, not a mastery of the language.
That tells you something: that many of the jobs my generation will hold don't even exist yet.
No one can hand us a syllabus for a title that hasn't been in writing.
What we can focus on exactly—what we can focus on— what exactly got me here, which is the capacity to listen, to reason, to communicate, and to hold an ethical line under pressure.
And that is while AI is genuinely remarkable— expanding access to tutoring the way Khan Academy has— to healthcare, to opportunity, and places that never had it before.
At the end of the day, however, AI is a tool, and maybe a political one.
That means the dangers are just as real: misinformation, cyberattacks, threats to safety.
This technology moves faster than most of our institutions can respond to it, and right now its power sits largely with private companies, with little regulation and even less international coordination— only to get that example.
And it's exactly why I don't believe AI literacy can be taught as a technical skill alone.
Teach a young person to use the tool without also building their judgment, their empathy, their capacity to ask, "Should we? Not only can we? " And we will have failed the entire point of education.
Those human capacities are the foundation.
So here's what I want to leave this room with.
For years, our curricula have quietly ranked disciplines, placing STEM at the top and pushing the humanities to the margins, as though philosophy, ethics, literature, and history were a luxury rather than infrastructure.
But those are exactly the disciplines that teach us how to reason through ambiguity, how to weigh competing values, how to ask what a technology should do, not only what it can do.
If we are serious about raising a generation ready for AI, we cannot keep treating the humanities as optional.
They are the training ground for the exact judgment this moment demands.
None of us can undo the fact that AI is here to stay.
That also means the direction it takes is still ours to choose.
We can choose to use it ethically and for the benefit of everyone, especially the young people who will live with its consequences for the long haul.
Everyone.
Thank you so very much, Neela.
First demand: I need that statement.
You've raised a lot of very crucial issues, and just beyond the technical, what has helped you in your journey? Empathy, critical thinking.
You said something that I am going to use: the ability to hold an ethical line under pressure, and the pressures are growing.
The question to ask is not what technology can do, but what it should do.
All emphasizing the importance of shaping AI to build the kind of societies that we want.
Once again, thank you so very much, Neela, President of Her Story.
Can we give another round of applause? It's now my pleasure to invite Professor Dimitri Poilievre, who's going to wear two hats.
And the first hat he's going to wear is that of the Secretary-General.
So he's going to—he's representing the Secretary-General here, and we'll be reading the statement of the SG, and then it will be followed by his own reflections.
And Mr.
Philippe Poilievre is the ASG for Youth Affairs and head of the UN Youth Office.
You have the floor, Philip.
Thank you, Cynthia, and good morning, everyone.
Thank you for joining us early this morning, and also during very busy times at the UN.
So it's great you made the choice this morning to come here and to join this important, I think, more than celebration; it's an opportunity to really reflect on a critical topic and where we are, and also have this panel discussion with the audience also about what are the challenges ahead.
So thank you, Cynthia, for hosting us one more year in your house, in ILO's house here in New York.
Definitely thanks to the two countries' governments that have been supporting this day since the inception.
So Portugal and Sri Lanka, thank you for it, and also for supporting the youth agenda at multiple levels.
And of course, to UNESCO for the co-hosting of this event.
And it's hard to speak after Neela, because I think she was extremely substantive, but also from a very human angle of her journey, which I think makes it much more special than any other speech we can read today.
And I think that the panel and having also the private sector with us today, it's very important, because I think the private sector has a critical role to play and a responsibility, because the Sustainable Development Goals will only be achieved also if the private sector commits to them, to those goals.
And that's why the intersection of governments, the international community, the private sector, and civil society— putting young people at the center and giving them a space— it's very critical.
So as Cynthia said, I will start reading the Secretary-General's message on this International Youth Skills Day, which is as follows.
"On World Youth Skills Day, we celebrate the contributions of young people across the globe.
As innovators, leaders, and agents of change, young people are seeking to build more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable communities and societies.
It is vital that they gain the skills, training, and education they need and deserve.
Our world is being dramatically reshaped by digital technologies, climate change, and growing economic uncertainty and inequality.
As this year's theme reminds us, navigating these rapid changes calls for a new set of skills, from digital literacy to artificial intelligence, communication, and critical thinking.
Unlocking the full potential of younger generations requires massive investment in inclusive, quality education and training.
Closing the skills gap can help create decent jobs and sustainable livelihoods at scale.
On this World Youth Skills Day, let's commit to equipping young people with the competencies our changing world requires so they can help to build a better tomorrow for all.
" This concludes Secretary-General's message for this year's International Youth Skills Day.
And the Secretary-General's message speaks to something I have experienced myself in my own journey.
I grew up in Latin America, in Uruguay, and I was trained as a medical doctor.
Now I have a different career path.
But at that time, when I was trained as a doctor, I learned the importance of problem-solving.
I was trained also in analytical thinking.
And even now, I'm doing something very different.
I think those skills, those competencies I got during my training, are actually the ones I use every day in my current role.
And during this journey, this transition from medicine into more public service, and now as an international civic servant, I've had the chance to meet so many young people like Neela across communities, but also young people working within governments, within institutions, such amazing colleagues here, young professionals in the UN system.
And I would say that what makes the real difference in all of their journeys is actually those human skills, as it was reflected by each of the speakers today.
And maybe I want to highlight one, which is the ability to listen.
Today we're living in a world where we are bombarded by communication, constantly.
This is also now accelerated by artificial intelligence.
The only certainty is change.
And that's why I think more and more, as Neela was saying, we need to go back to the basics.
We need to go back to the human skills that train us also to identify which are the lines between what is morally acceptable and not, what is ethical and what is not.
So really, for me, being future-ready, which is one of the calls we usually have when we are talking about this Skills Day, it's about combining innovation with empathy.
It's about combining data analysis with actual dialogue.
And it's about how we combine technology at the end with a human connection.
And as the Secretary-General emphasized, achieving this requires partnership, for sure, but it requires investment.
Because for every young person to have access to these skills, we need investment—investment coming from the public sector, but from the private sector.
And we need real partnership and trust among the different stakeholders that we come together.
So thank you all for being here, and back to you, Cynthia.
Thank you so much, Philipe, in your two capacities.
And the issue of partnership has come up again.
And the fact that you emphasize the engagement of the private sector.
We have the employers, we have the trade unions, we have youth organizations represented, and other key stakeholders.
And even within the UN, no one institution can do it alone.
We have to work very well together.
And so it's my pleasure to invite not a partner in crime, a partner in virtue.
UNESCO is a dear colleague and neighbor.
Mr.
Eliot Mintzenberg is the director of the UNESCO liaison office to the United Nations.
Eliot, you have the floor.
Thank you very much, Cynthia, and good morning, everyone.
Thank you for joining us today on this very hot day.
You know, it's not in my speech, but reading about this year's theme, "Skills for a Shared Future," I cannot help but think, what future can we hope when our planet is burning? Climate change is the defining challenge of our time.
No doubt about that.
We all know it.
And we absolutely need to equip people with the skills to address climate change.
If we want to build a more sustainable world, it's not an option anymore; it is a necessity.
UNESCO is very pleased to join Portugal, Sri Lanka, ILO, the UN Youth Office in organizing this meeting again this year.
And I want to express my deep appreciation to Portugal and Sri Lanka for your leadership and for keeping this important topic high on the agenda of the United Nations.
This is essential, and we're deeply grateful to you for doing that.
For more than a decade, this annual celebration has highlighted the energy, the creativity, and the potential of young people around the world.
Yet the world facing young people today is profoundly different from the one we knew when World Youth Skills Day was established in 2015.
I just mentioned one of these very challenging issues that we have to face today.
We are living through a period of unprecedented change, technological innovation, as was mentioned by the previous speakers, especially artificial intelligence is changing deeply how we learn, how we work, how we communicate, and participate in society.
These changes create exciting opportunities, but they also bring new challenges.
They are reshaping our labor markets, redefining the skills people need, and raising new ethical and social risks.
At UNESCO, we believe that young people should not only adapt to change, but they should also have the skills and confidence to shape that change.
This is why we are working with countries around the world to help young people develop a broad range of future-ready skills.
This includes strong foundational learning and technical and vocational competencies, as was mentioned by the distinguished representative of Sri Lanka, as well as digital and AI literacy, critical thinking—I insist, critical thinking, creativity, of course—adaptability, and social-emotional skills.
These are not just skills for just finding a job.
They are skills for solving problems, making informed decisions, participating in society, and building a better future.
Education is essential here.
UNESCO has been at the forefront of efforts to make sure AI is also developed and used responsibly.
In 2021, our member states adopted the first-ever recommendation on the ethics of artificial intelligence, the world's global standard-setting instrument in this field.
Since then, we have developed tools and guidance to help schools, teachers, learners, and families to use AI safely and responsibly.
We're also working with governments, the UN, and partners across the world to ensure that AI serves people, and especially young people.
As young people are among the most active users of AI, they can also be exposed to risks such as misinformation, disinformation, harmful content, and online manipulation, but you know all this very well.
We must make sure that innovation goes hand in hand with safety, inclusion, and human rights.
This commitment was at the heart of the recent Global Dialogue on AI Governance held in Geneva a few days ago, and for which UNESCO and ITU jointly served as the secretariat.
We're also joining forces with sister agencies, in particular our dear sister agency, ILO, to promote the ethical use of AI and help shape global labor standards that advance the common good, and we'll help very soon on that.
Dear participants, dear skills champions, if I may call you this way, young people must also have a seat at the table.
We know this.
Your voices, ideas, and experiences matter.
That is why UNESCO has engaged young people in conversation about the future of education and the future we want to build after 2030.
As we celebrate World Youth Skills Day, let us renew our commitment to ensuring that every young person has the opportunity to learn, grow, and succeed in a rapidly changing world.
And with this, I wish you a happy World Youth Skills Day.
Thank you so very much, Eliot.
And indeed, we remain partners in virtue.
We'll now move to the interactive panel discussion.
And I promise you, we have a great panel.
Two of them are physically here.
The third one is on the screen.
It would be good if we could have his picture or if the video is activated.
But it's going to be a wonderful session.
And before we start, we're going to have a short video that illustrates how skills development can help to transform young people's lives and open new pathways to education, to employment, and to opportunity.
I believe the video is ready.
Thank you so very much, Eliot.
And indeed, we remain partners in virtue.
We'll now move to the interactive panel.
Every journey starts somewhere.
Not with certainty.
Not with answers, just with the first step.
A first practice, a first skill, because every skill unlocks confidence, courage, and opportunity.
The free freedom to shape your skills development across our generations.
I believe.Not conducive to a really stable sort of society.
But employers need to be at the table, and need to shape what the education is, and just not just to receive the graduates.
Again, 60% of employers expect to transfer their business because of AI.
85% of employers plan to invest in work-skilling programs and reskilling programs; they're absolutely obliged.
And 70 expect, 70% expect to hire staff with entirely new skill sets.
Employers know what the skills are that are emerging.
They don't know everything, and we all are have to be very humble.
The AI world, we all do not know.
But educational systems are not necessarily keeping up to track.
What we need from governments is to be involved in the design of curriculum, TVET governance, occupational standards, and then global oversight.
But skills are changing fast, and 90, 39% of workers' existing skills will be transformed or outdated.
So today, and I agree with many of the speakers, I had to say yes, yes, yes, you were speaking to our mind.
But again, we don't need just those technical skills.
We need what we call the human skills.
You know, they say the employers are saying, "You get your job based on your technical skills, and you lose your job for your lack of human skills.
" So what are we talking about? Yes, we're talking about collaboration, communication, creativity, emotional intelligence.
But also, especially in the world we're in today, empathy and ethics.
So what do people need to do? Work-based learning is what makes people more employable.
We're working with OECD on strong apprenticeship programs to lower youth unemployment.
We're working with ILO, and we have a convention, or a recommendation, on quality apprenticeships to increase and support skill shortages, but also to support—and we need to say this— the SMEs in many developing countries are the ones that are lacking most the skills.
But lifelong learning starts well before the first job.
We need to embed in primary school, in secondary school, basic soft skills, human skills.
Because everyone will have to change jobs.
This idea that you would stay in the same job for 30 years doesn't happen.
It won't happen.
Skills are also for us not just a discussion about education.
If you have the right skills and the right workforce, productivity goes up, innovation goes up, investment goes up, business growth, and decent work.
Now, I think that skills participation and our work and employers being involved in gen as genuine partners really help identify some of the new things, like micro-credentials.
And I must stress, employers are not interested in degrees.
They're interested in, really, the skills.
So I'll close here, but just to say that the one thing that I've learned in all of this, we have to be all working together on this, because this is something we all agree on, and if we don't get this right, we are going to have serious issues in the next 5 to 10 years.
So thank you.
Thank you so very much, Shea, for that.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
And we're re-emphasizing the beyond technical.
I like the statement you made.
You get your job based on your technical skills, or you lose it based on your human skills.
And this is consistent with all that we've heard, particularly from Nila, in terms of the importance of those human skills and competencies.
And you talked about genuine partnership.
We'll now go fly from New York to go and meet with Marco.
And Marco, as I said, represents the ITUC.
As more young people enter work through digital platforms, how do we ensure that skills development is matched by strong protection of rights? And how do we ensure that the young people themselves play an important role in shaping these policies? Again, you have 5 minutes.
Thank you, Chair.
On behalf of the International Trade Union Confederation, I would like to begin thanking the organizers for committing this important discussion.
From the inter-regional perspective, we believe this requires a change in the way we think about the skills.
Too often, when we are talking about how young people can adapt to technology, we are all the time talking, yes, about the adaptation, but we should have in mind too that digital skills should empower young people, young workers, not leave them more vulnerable.
Skills are obviously essential for young people to build their life projects, access to quality employment, and to contribute to a more just society and a more inclusive world.
But the real question here is not only what skills young people need to set in the labor market, but also what kind of labor market we are building for the future.
Many young people enter the labor market through digital platform.
I'm sure that you know.
Freelancing, content creation, food delivery.
But these jobs can provide flexibility and new opportunities, but these should never come at the cost of decent work, fair pay, or fundamental labor rights.
That's why the recent adoption of the ILO Convention, this year adoption on decent work in the platform economy, marks a historic milestone in the recognition of this right.
It recognizes that platform workers need a right alongside opportunities, including access to the skill development, safe working, social protection, and, of course, the freedom of organization.
That's a fundamental right of workers.
It confirms that the technological innovation must always go hand in hand with labor rights, that algorithms must never replace collective bargaining, and that flexibility must never become precariousness.
We also support the objective of building resilient skilled systems, but resilience cannot be limited by simply teaching young people how to deal with instability.
It must mean building labor markets and institutions that protect the workers' rights and the work situation.
For this reason, skill development must be accompanied by public policies that facilitate the transition from education to employment, that reduce the digital gap, and ensure that no one is left behind because of gender, of origin, or socioeconomic condition.
Above all, young workers must be involved in shaping these policies, these kinds of policies, through the social dialogue.
They should participate in the designing education, training programs, engage in social dialogue, and.
Thanks, Rosa.
Yeah.
And we're on freeze, Marco.
Technology.
Okay.
I'm looking at my advisers.
Okay.
Hopefully, we'll get to unfreeze him.
And then hear what he has to say, because we really came to hear it.
But we'll quickly now move and, sorry about that, we'll move to our last panelist, who is physically here with us and is definitely not frozen.
And that is Anneliese Dow.
Anneliese is the S&P Global representative.
Ms.
Dow, as someone who is both an early career professional and part of a global company, what skills have been most important in your journey, and how can business better support this? Thank you so much.
I promise I won't freeze, because I promised that much for this.
But thank you so much for having me here today.
It's really an honor and privilege to be here.
My role at S&P Global, I am a program manager at our corporate foundation.
For those who might not be familiar with S&P Global, we're a financial intelligence firm, and so some common products that you might have heard of are S&P 500 or Dow Jones.
At the corporate foundation, I help support our grant-making to nonprofit organizations around the world, particularly aligned with our key focus areas of creating environmental resilience and developing the tech and data talent pipeline.
But how did I get here today, and what skills were most important? I really think our adaptability and curiosity, which have been thematic for my other panelists and the speakers today.
When you look back at my resume from my teen years or early 20s, I tried a lot of different types of work, and that looked like teaching Montessori-style in a preschool in California, doing outreach in local jails and prisons in Ohio, working at theater companies, and a local NPR station.
So a lot of different types of work.
But what I was able to do is gain new skills and experiences.
I think Nila said it well, it's like saying it traveled with me, and so I was able to apply it and adapt to different environments.
I think as we look at an AI-enabled world, adaptability will be really important, because we don't know what those next jobs will be.
They might not even exist yet.
On the curiosity side, I'm someone who's always been super curious, love learning.
Two degrees later, I can still say, still love to learn.
But I think why curiosity is so important from a career perspective is really having exposure to different types of opportunities and careers.
My current role, I first heard when I was 21, and I was doing a networking event with a corporation who was doing philanthropic work for local communities during the opioid epidemic and the Rust Belt here in the United States.
And I listened to how she was leveraging the company's assets and funds to really make a difference, and I thought, wow, that's a really cool type of career.
And I wouldn't have been exposed to that job opportunity had I not had that conversation.
When we look at the company perspective, which from the private sector has also been a theme about how we can best partner to bring young people in the next generation alongside the future of work, I'm really proud to work at S&P Global and the foundation.
For one of the reasons is our initiative called Step Forward, the three-year commitment to equipping the next generation with the skills and confidence needed to succeed in an AI-enabled world.
And what that looks like is collaborating with different nonprofit organizations, academic institutions.
The UN Youth Office here today is one of our collaborators on this.
And when companies can come alongside youth and local communities who already have excellent communications and amplify their work and fund it and scale the impact, I think we've already seen that it can make a difference just in these first few months.
Thank you so very much, Anneliese.
And I'm happy you didn't freeze, and you shared with us the importance of the collaboration between companies, with organizations, in supporting young people, not just for the now, but for the future.
And you also shared with us the skills that have helped you in your journey.
And as you were talking, I not only remembered Nila, I also remembered what Filipe said about the skills that helped him as a medical doctor, helping him now as the ASG, and helping him in different capacities.
Most importantly, technical skills are important, but it has to be beyond the technical.
Marcus, it's good to find that you're unfrozen.
You have 1 minute now to finish what you were telling us.
Exactly 60 seconds.
Okay.
I don't know what was the last thing that you're listening, but I was already concluding my intervention.
So yeah, I was just saying that a final reflection about young workers that must be involved in shaping these kinds of policies, and they should, the young workers, participating in designing the education and training programs, engaging in social dialogue.
And yes, also define the rules that will establish the future of work of tomorrow, because the future of work of tomorrow is not only about teaching young people to use technology.
It's about ensuring that the technology creates decent work.
So hopefully now I'm not froze again.
Thank you so very much, Marc.
And it's really important, from what Marcus said, having young people effectively at the table in terms of the policies relating to the world of work, and doing so through the existing structures, that in the trade unions, young people are effectively engaged and leading.
In the workers' organizations, young people are effectively engaged and leading.
Within the government structures, young people are effectively engaged and leading.
Thank you so very much for that.
Now we have time to hear your thoughts.
And I'm going to open the floor, and you will have all of 60 seconds for your intervention.
Very good.
You got the memo.
I've seen hands raising.
So let's see your hands.
Please help me.
I see Omar.
One, two, three.
No, one, two.
You were standing up.
One, two.
One, one.
We've got five hands.
Oh, six, seven.
Okay.
Closed.
So we're going to start with Teodora Mileska, and after that, Omar, and we'll take it right there.
60 seconds.
Right on the clock.
Hi, everyone.
So happy to be here.
I'm Teodora.
I'm a young leader for the SDGs, but I'm also a member of the UNESCO Youth and Student Network.
And I really want to take this opportunity.
We talked about skills, we talked about work, but something that goes before going to work is education.
So right now, let's have a.
Can you please just stand up so we can all see? Yeah.
It doesn't make a lot of difference, because so yeah, right now, UNESCO is doing this global youth consultation on what education and our agenda for education should look beyond 2030.
And I think this is a great opportunity for the young people in this room and beyond this room to share their voice.
So there are multiple ways that you can engage with us.
You can fill in the Global Youth Survey.
You can also organize consultations in your communities, or you can take part in the online regional consultations that will be happening in the next few months.
And why this is important, we've had more than 70,000 people who are already young people who already shared their voices coming from more than 100 countries.
But I think the more, the merrier, it's the better.
And I think this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for us to really share what we really want: the education to look beyond 2030, because we will be the ones who will be most impacted.
So please check out the social media of UNESCO, our website, and if you have any questions regarding that, do come and talk to me.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Teodora.
And thank you for bringing the issue of the Beyond 2030 agenda.
Omar, and after that, Christophe.
Yeah.
My name is Omar Farrokh Ousmani.
This is the same year, 2023.
I'm the general secretary of the Federation of Somali Trade Unions.
And in Africa, we say skill is development.
It's not privilege.
It's a right.
And where we come from, Africa, the majority of the population are youthful, but they are trapped in precarious employment.
In the informal economy, the skill is too smart.
You see development, skill is development.
So the key question here is, and I would have loved to see our ambassadors here.
They're also on the high table, but we know why they are not here.
And it's very important that when skill is developed, we talk about it, we equally address the issue of how this skills development is addressing precarious unemployment, the work deficit, the challenges that face in the market.
So I'd like to ask the distinguished speakers, how can we translate today the skills development that the youth need: decent, secure, and fair jobs in the labor market that could help the youth and encourage them, because the foot soldiers of the labor market are youthful.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Omar.
Christophe? Thanks very much, Cynthia.
My name is Christophe.
I'm with VHL Group, the global logistics company, and I would like to shed some light on something which is maybe beyond skills or even before skills.
So for the last 15 years, we co-created with our partners SS Children's Religious and Teach for All program to support young people while they transition into the world of work.
And we work with the most marginalized young people.
So with this target group, we do not talk about skills.
We talk about agency.
We talk about self-belief.
These young people do not think or do not believe that they would end up one day in a job situation, whether it would be self-employment or whether it would be regular employment.
So I would like to shed some light on this phase before we talk about skills building, for young people to be lifted up to this situation where they are in the position to start thinking about skills building and what they would like to do.
And as this is a very open thing we have created, we are happy to share.
We invite all of you to join us.
We would like to have something like a movement to reach out to all marginalized young people globally, but this is something we cannot do, just us and our partners.
So you're all invited to join.
Thanks very much.
Thank you, Marc.
So three gone.
Please remind me the four again.
Yeah.
One, two, three.
Oh, so one, two, three.
Oh, so it's not four.
We only have three.
Great.
So you.
Okay.
So mine is Marc.
What's your name? My name is Tanaza, and I'm one of the.
Hi.
My name is Tanaza, and I'm one of the young leaders for the Sustainable Development Goals.
And mine is more of a reflection and a question and something I think the panel might want to also think about, but also the room.
And it's thinking a lot about the young people that are in the informal sector.
So we've got populations that are very youthful, and their economies are massively built on the informal sector.
And young people in these economies are forced to be resilient.
They are forced to be creative.
They are forced to be innovative and have all these skills that go beyond the technical skills, not by choice, but because that's how they have to survive.
And I think it's important to think about how do these young people transition into decent employment, because they are already living these realities.
There's a joke we often make in our youth spaces when we think about the young people that are founders of initiatives or advocates.
And we always say, when you're a founder of something, you get the finance skills, you get the technical creative skills.
I think all young people in this room know how to use Canva.
We all become graphic designers in some form or way.
You get the marketing skills.
And I mean, I did psychology, and I feel like I've done all skills there may be, because you're trying to push your dream forward.
And sometimes it's not even because there are many options.
It's because that's the only option there is.
So I think when we have these type of conversations, it's important to think about how do we create spaces for those young people to transition into the decent employment and to get those opportunities.
And lastly, I would like to just say that when the young people do get the seat at the table, are the people that are making decisions ready to share that space with them? I think that's the most critical thing to think about.
And that's the issue of informality is recurring.
It came already.
And looking at the youthful population in Africa, which could be a great asset, but if not effectively skilled, could be a major, major is it Ken Powder? Gone Powder? Is it Keg off? Keg off.
Gone Powder? How do they say it? It could smolder.
It could blow up.
Yeah.
Very, very important issues that you've raised.
And when young people are at the table, are they really at the table? As you rightly said.
So we have two more.
Yes.
And that's the last.
One minute, please.
One in the back.
Who said the one at the back? Sorry, who's at the back? Was your hand up initially? No, that's fine.
Okay.
You, please.
Hi, everyone.
My name is Ashling, and I'm one of Arna's youth delegates.
So my question or my point is kind of tying back into education, because when we talk to decision-makers on local, national, or international level about skills, it's usually through the lens of formal education.
So the education that young people get through schools or universities or training courses where there's usually some type of official accreditation or certificate at the end.
But as we all know in this room, young people don't just learn in those formal spaces.
There's young people who founded their own organizations, who've been involved in campaigns and grassroots initiatives, who lobby their decision-makers at all types of different levels.
So I'd be really interested in knowing about how we can further push the recognition of the quality of non-formal education and the competencies gained in the sector at all different levels, so the young people can get the credit for the work that they do in their volunteering and community settings.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
Thank you very much.
Yes.
Hello.
Good morning, everyone.
My name is Siri, and I'm a youth representative of the World Scouting.
And I would like to acknowledge the skills that young people already possess.
I know that we talk a lot about the importance of education and the importance of getting new skills to young people, but I also really want to stress the fact that young people already have a lot of skills that they are using every day in their lives, in their communities.
World Scouting, we have 60 million members worldwide, and we have an initiative called Scouts for SDGs, where we have almost 3 billion hours of community service.
And that's mostly done by young people in their communities.
They see crisis, they are creative, they find solutions, they adapt.
And then that stays at the local level.
They are not acknowledged for the things that they do.
And I think that we can connect that to all the other civil society organizations, young people, grassroots movements.
The skills are there.
Their experience is there.
The evidence is there.
But how do we get these young people's experiences and evidence that they've collected in their communities? How can we get that to a higher level, and how can we get them the acknowledgments that they deserve for it? So that's the question for the room.
Thank you.
Thank you so very much for that.
And full disclosure, I was trained as a scout.
I wouldn't tell you how many decades ago.
But those skills are still useful, even in my current life, both professionally and not.
So this is just to reinforce the importance of the work being done by the Scouts movement and the Brownies too.
It still exists.
Yeah.
But thank you so very much for bringing those dimensions.
So we will exceptionally take you, and you get 30 seconds.
Okay.
Fantastic.
So thank you so much.
As you can see, I'm wearing a Prometheus right now.
And as many of you who are wearing glasses, for example, imagine doing your lives without that assisted technology.
So if we're speaking about youth skills, imagine being a youth who can read.
Imagine being a youth who can go to his place to study and then to work.
So if it's upon to your agendas, please consider the use of assisted technology devices into improving the lives of people, young people, elderly people, because we are all going to need an assisted device at some time in the process.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so very much for bringing that very important dimension.
We've had the questions, the comments, the information.
Now I'm going to go to the panel.
And each of you has 90 seconds to respond to the issues that you choose that have been raised.
And I'll start with you, Marco.
90 seconds.
Well, thank you very much.
And thank you for the intervention.
I think that was really interesting.
I think that, yeah, when we are focusing on the youth skills of tomorrow, we can see in this room, not in this one, but yeah, we can approach it by different perspectives of the young people.
Yeah, my final message will be, again, that it's not only about the skills to develop our careers, to develop our situation in work.
It's more about how the workers can maintain their labor rights in the future of work of tomorrow.
So yes, skilling is not just about to improve our efficiency.
It's also about to maintain our rights and to improve our labor rights.
You're frozen again.
Okay.
Shit.
I know the issues around informality resonate strongly with you, the transition from informality to decent work.
And then you pick any other issue you want to address.
90 seconds.
Okay.
So very quickly, informality is one of our biggest issues.
Sub-Saharan Africa, you're talking about 90% of the countries' workers are in the informal sector.
But it's just not in Africa.
It's in every country.
So IT is probably, I would say, what's happening in AI is probably the most important part, because the most important thing is to get these companies registered.
And we're seeing huge progress in getting SMEs registered.
And then eventually, what's really important is those companies start paying taxes, and you increase domestic resource mobilization.
Egypt went and increased their tax revenue by 40% by digitalizing the registration of SMEs in the country and giving them tax benefits of paying 1% on taxes.
I mean, these are the kind of incentives that work.
So we're seeing a change.
However, it's a very serious issue.
I would say also access.
What concerns me more is we're all talking about now the fifth industrial revolution.
Now, in particularly Africa, we could leapfrog and leave the second, third, and fourth and get to the fifth.
But with 2.3 billion people without any access, that's not going to work.
Now, what's very interesting is we're doing a project with Microsoft on skills for SMEs.
We're oversubscribed.
And somehow, people are finding ways to get into villages where there's a computer and they can take these programs.
So there's a thirst for these kinds of programs, but we're not getting it.
Lastly, and I'll be very quick, the skills recognition, we couldn't agree with you more, particularly for the immigrant population.
People moving into countries, we hate to see a doctor as an Uber driver.
We should be able to recognize those skills.
And so we're working with governments, but it's not moving that fast on that.
And we need to be less rigid and really start recognizing the skills of people, because we need these workers.
But they need to be also recognized and put into the right kinds of jobs.
Thanks.
Thank you very much.
And on power learning, there is an ILO initiative on the recognition of power learning, largely those informally acquired, so that there's a move to ensure that these learnings can be translated into the formal labor market.
So that initiative is on the ground.
You want to add something? Just one point on that, on recognition of diplomas, because this is really within the UNESCO's mandate.
It exists already, actually.
There are passports, what we call the qualification passports for refugees, who have indeed, like the example that you gave, about a doctor who has to leave his own country because of war or conflict and then move to another.
We see that in Ukraine.
We see that in many places.
And this is in place already through the system of UNESCO, the recognition of these diplomas.
But of course, we need governments to endorse it and to enforce it as well.
So we have already a group of governments who have done it, but we call, of course, on them to extend that as well.
But it is an issue.
Beautiful.
So one you have 90 seconds.
But let me just put the other co-hosts on notice that I'm coming to you for one minute.
I'll tell you 50 seconds.
50 seconds.
So I will tell you.
I'll even set a timer to be an A-plus student for you.
Yeah, I think thematically, I heard a lot of local solutions and work that's happening today already preexisting.
And I think at FNP Global and the FNP Global Foundation, something we're really passionate about is collaborating and fostering an ecosystem so that these great solutions, no matter where they're happening in the world, are able to connect with each other.
So if you look at the Step Forward initiative I mentioned, we started with global organizations like Generation or MIT RAISE.
MIT RAISE is actually doing micro-credentialing that Shay mentioned earlier.
We also funded six small regional nonprofit organizations around the world, from Paris branch to Hyderabad, India, doing unique solutions like voice-first AI tech solutions for people who are low literacy.
And then we also looked at academic institutions like Oxford University and Stanford Institute for the Center for AI, who are really the thought leaders in the space, and then complemented by, of course, the UN youth office who's able to amplify the importance of this work.
And leading Step Forward, I've seen already so many connections made amongst the organizations, and so that we don't need to reinvent the wheel, but perhaps we just need to learn from each other and collaborate in that way, building an ecosystem and scaling impact through that.
And I feel like already hearing from you great people, there's some of those solutions in this room as well.
Thanks a million to our panelists.
I'm two seconds over.
You get an A-plus plus.
Thank you so much, our panelists.
Now we're going to go to those sitting closer to me.
And I'm going to start with you, Nila.
And you get an extra two seconds.
Hi.
Reminding me of a question.
No.
You just pick whatever your final words from all that you've had.
You've lost four seconds already.
Maybe I should come back to me.
Okay.
Yeah.
I can take it.
So we come back to Nila can close.
Go ahead, Philip.
The most important voice in this chair.
So maybe for me, I think the collaboration aspect is very, very critical.
In this room, we've heard from different angles many of those solutions that are already happening.
And I would say more and more, really emphasizing that the real power of the UN is the convening power.
And we need to do more and more of that.
That's the approach our office is taking when it's about this topic of skills, for example.
We're working with the private sector.
We're working with the largest nonformal education organizations like Scouts, like Girl Scouts and Scouts, and many more.
But also within the UN, there's so many expertise, so many initiatives across the UN.
And we're trying to bring them together.
And allow me just to highlight one of those big platforms of the UN, one that brings the family together, powered by UNICEF, but Generation Unlimited is one of those huge platforms that is in 52 countries, really driving, mobilizing not only global, but also private sector at the national level with the governments, with the UN in the countries.
And it's about this transition from learning to earning.
So thank you very much.
Thank you, Felipe.
You took two extra minutes, and I'm going to take it from Nila.
No, no, no.
Not for Nila.
Yes.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Well, a privilege to be here.
I learned a lot, and I also listened a lot, but I will comply also to my government.
But my message, my final message would be a positive message.
I mean, the future has always been a big unknown to any generation, not only for yours.
I mean, I just want to remind you, for instance, the generation of my grandparents in Europe, they lived the Second World War in European soil.
No one had a clue when the war would finish and what would be the world after the war.
My parents in Portugal, they lived most of their lives or a significant part of their lives under the dictatorship of Salazar in my country.
No one also had a clue when the dictatorship would finish and what will be the world in Portugal after that.
In most cases, we overcame that with positive, and the world was better than it was before those war cases or the dictatorship in my case.
So this is to say that, I mean, we should look to the future positive, although there's lots of anxiety because we don't know what will be the future.
The second on SDGs.
The SDGs are something that we have never seen in the history of mankind.
It's such a huge collective task.
So it's also a positive message that we should not be so negative with the fact that we are off track because we have never done so.
We are saying, how should we produce energy? I mean, any revolution in the past, the industrial revolution or so, no one decided collectively how to do these kind of things.
So there's also in SDGs some kind of aspirational component.
But the ideas and the targets are very positive.
It's to develop the world and to be a better world.
The only thing that I have to admit that I'm not so optimistic is about AI, not because of you and not because of us around this table.
I think our governments and the multilateral system are trying to give the best and more effective answers to this challenge.
But the people that control companies and that develop AI, I'm not so sure if they are on the same page.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Now we'll go to Sri Lanka.
Thank you very much.
Thank you too.
First of all, I was thinking, now we have a platform here, right, to discuss this.
So we should give credit to the diplomats from Sri Lanka and Portugal and all the secretariat staff who served here maybe 10, 20 years back.
They told this a decade ago, and they have created a platform.
So the credit should go to them as well.
And the concerns that we have discussed is not only a matter for the youth as well.
Because as a father, I have doubts about my children getting proper employment in the future.
So we have a platform within the UN to discuss.
So we can't find solutions for these problems and silos, right? Everybody has need to get together.
So I think UN has created that platform.
It shows the significance of the UN.
So the multilateralism is really important when you're planning to find solutions in the future.
So I'm really glad to listen, hold your views, and we should have more discussions on these representatives in the future as well to find solutions which are helpful for all of us, not only for the youth, but at the end of the day, it will solve issues or the concerns of the adults as well.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
You get 20 seconds because you already had 30 seconds.
Absolutely.
Thank you, Cynthia.
Maybe just to thank you all for sharing your thoughts and ideas here.
One last maybe idea to share is that we do ask youth to adapt and to be agile and to have these skills that we mentioned.
But I think it's important to remind that we, UN, and governments need also to adapt and to be more agile as well.
We're doing our best to do that.
An example is the education, the review of education.
What education for the 21st century? What do we need in education? We know that our education systems are not adapted to the realities of today, including the job market.
So we do our best, but we need to do more.
And I want to thank also Felipe for pushing that as well within the UN to adapt more and to be more agile on these issues and for governments and sister agencies for doing this with us.
Thank you.
Thank you.
You have your 50.
Thank you.
I just want to thank everyone for coming here.
And I'm really grateful for having you at the table.
But something that resonated with me from the meetings was the fact that refugees and immigrants, their talents and the years of work that they have done in their own home country isn't as large.
And I'm speaking for the population of Catholics, coming after the wave of immigration that happened in 2021.
Maybe there should be more to do in that part.
But coming back to the discussion that we did today, I'm very grateful for being here and discussing these topics alongside experts.
I feel like I have a lot more to learn.
But I'm very looking forward to doing more, as I'm sure every other young person in this room is, to continue the discussion and find points of collaboration so we can make an actual plan.
Thank you so, so very much.
You have one minute.
And I promise I will finish one minute before 10:00.
And we're going to keep that promise.
This has been a very rich conversation, really, really rich, substantive from different dimensions.
Christoph talked about the preschool environment, those young people at risk.
SOS Villages talked about persons with disabilities who need assisted technology to be able to engage.
We talked about refugees.
You brought that dimension.
So we've had the opportunity to look in different dimensions.
We've identified what the challenges are.
The statistics on NEET is worrisome, really worrisome.
Young people who are not in education, they're not in employment, they're not in training.
Significant.
We talked about informality.
We've talked about the multiple crises.
But we've also talked about the opportunities, the good news, the good things that are happening, the skills that young people already have, the examples of the skills that have helped with different transitions from Nila, from Felipe.
And I'm sure we can all give our own examples, including from Zimbabwe.
So what is important is for us really to fully utilize the spaces.
Felipe, you talked about the convening power.
And it was also mentioned by the DPR from Sri Lanka.
Multilateralism.
Multilateralism works.
It does work.
It not only worked, it is still working.
On the 12th of June in Geneva, on an issue that is so, so difficult to get consensus on, employers, workers, member states from all the regions agreed on a historic landmark convention, 193, that technology must serve people.
So let's move with the energy, with the information, with the learnings, with the networks that we have built today to make sure that we contribute to changing things, to moving the needle.
Once again, it's really been wonderful hearing experiences that technical skills are important, but it has to be beyond technical skills.
And I go back to what Shea said.
The technical skills get you your foot in the door, get you in, but it's the ability to have all those other skills that Nila and other colleagues highlighted that will make us effectively shape the kind of world of work that we need for now and for the future.
Once again, let me thank the permanent mission of Portugal, represented by Ambassador Vinhes, the permanent representative, the permanent mission of Sri Lanka, represented by the DPR, my partners in virtue, Felipe and Elliot, and my new best friend, Nila.
And of course, our social partners, Marco, Shea, and with you, Annalise, and to everyone who has contributed.
But let's also give a round of applause to all the colleagues from UNESCO, from the UN Youth Office, from the ILO, who you don't see, but who made this happen.
Can we give them a round of applause? So with that, we have ended, and it's 1:00.
So have a wonderful day.
Thank you so very much.
Oh, no.
I need to rush to go and review a report.
I love the outfit as well.
Oh, good.
How are you? I'm okay.
I'm really good.
Hey.
I thought so.
You have.
Then you have all that you want.
I explained the video for each.
And when I said it, I realized that I was going to lose the I'm going to apologize.
Sorry.