Pakistan made permanent member of SCO's Youth Council: SAPM Usman Dar

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant on Youth Affairs Usman Dar announced on Thursday that Pakistan has become a permanent member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO) Youth Council.

In a video message, Dar said that the result had been achieved due to the efforts of Prime Minister Imran Khan and his initiatives for the youth, such as the Youth Council, Kamyab Jawan and Hunarmand Pakistan programmes.

“Pakistani youth will now be able to represent their country at SCO Youth Council meetings and its exchange programmes,” Dar said, adding that the representatives will also take part in skill development programmes of the Council.

The Youth Council of SCO was set up after a proposal was made by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the SCO summit in June 2006. The concept of the Council was represented at a meeting of the SCO heads of state in Beijing in May 2007.

In the SCO meeting held in October 2008 in St Petersburg, the Youth Council’s statutes and the basic principles of operation were agreed upon.

The founding conference of the SCO Youth Council was held in Yekaterinburg where the founding documents of the SCO Youth Council, Declaration on the Establishment and Regulation of the Youth Council Shanghai Cooperation Organization were signed, according to the Youth Council website.

China is the current president of the SCO Youth Council.