Opening Remarks by Ms. Nashida Sattar

Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP Mongolia

10 November 2020

Youth Palace, Orkhon Aimag

Good morning, Aspiring young leaders, trainers, volunteers, policy makers of Orkhon aimag, and Mr. Batjargal, newly appointed Governor of Orkhon aimag.

It is such a joy to welcome and be with young people with full of energy, aspiration, and ambitions in this Youth Palace and I am grateful for this opportunity to speak to you today.

As you all know, COVID-19 pandemic is presenting unprecedented challenges globally including Mongolia and it is most likely to have severe and long-lasting impacts on Mongolian people, particularly, young people.

Young people are the driving force for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. However, the most ambitious agenda in human history is now suffering heavily due to the pandemic and we must double our efforts to achieve them.

Our success in doing so mostly depends on the energy, passion and active engagement of young people like yourselves. Your potential role and contribution to Mongolia’s future development is particularly significant as the third of Mongolia’s populations is young people such as yourselves between ages 15-34

Thus, Mongolia’s bright future is rightfully in your hands today, be it sustainable development, prosperity, green economy, innovation, human rights, and gender equality.

The “#ACTIVED2030” is an excellent youth empowerment platform to bring together all stakeholders born out of UNDP’s partnership with the Governor’s Office of Orkhon aimag.

Today’s workshop aims to empower you with tools and resources necessary to put you in the driver’s seat to build forward Mongolia better and accelerate Sustainable Development Goals implementation.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the co-organizer and partners of today’s workshop for creating this excellent opportunity to empower and activate young people of Orkhon aimag. Your commitment through this partnership platform for creating brighter future for youth is truly commendable

As I have reiterated before,Your active participation, ideas, contributions, and commitment is more important than ever today to address many of challenges we face in Mongolia and accelerate toward achieving Sustainable Development Goals.

So I encourage young people such as yourselves to step up and fulfill this honorable duty by empowering yourself with the tools and resources we are providing here today

UNDP Mongolia remains committed to supporting you all through our various projects. Thank you all and I wish you an inspiring and successful workshop.