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By Chamitha Kuruppu

Young business personnel from Commonwealth countries were in Colombo last week to participate in the Second Asia Regional Consultation in a bid to strengthen the regional community among young business people.

The event hosted by the Commonwealth Asia Forum of Junior Chambers (C7-JC) included participants and senior government officials from Bangladesh, Brunei, Darussalam, India, Malaysia, Maldives, Singapore and Sri Lanka.

The meeting was held to review progress of the C7-JC and help to understand practical issues on the functioning of the body. The outcome of the session will be a charter that will form the basis of the network. The C7-JC also hopes to set up Junior Chambers in member countries, which have Chapters of Junior Chambers.

The Junior Chamber, Sri Lanka, conducted the event in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth Affairs.

At the inaugural ceremony Regional Director of the Commonwealth Youth Program Asia Centre, Raska Rashid said that C7-JC has the potential to become the engine behind a dynamic force of young entrepreneurs in the region.

Rashid said that C7-JC is a regional network aimed at enhancing co-operation among young people of the Commonwealth Asia region to promote, facilitate and develop enterprises, entrepreneurship, business skills, values, ethics, mentorship and leadership.

Through the 'Youth for the future' initiative of the Commonwealth the young people look forward to maximise existing resources and linkages. The Commonwealth Heads of Government launched this initiative early last year to enable young people to become better leaders and entrepreneurs.

Participation is considered a vital factor of young people's development and it contributes to development in wider spheres through building consensus, tolerance and active citizenship. The goal of this strategic program area is to realise the potential of young people as active citizens through their participation in contribution to and engagement with national, social, political and economic development processes. This will be informed by lessons and experiences gained through the centrality of youth in national youth development plans and processes.

The Commonwealth Youth Program Asia Centre is one of four regional centres of the Commonwealth Youth Program (CYP) of the Commonwealth Secretariat, London, United Kingdom.

It is the youth development and empowerment wing of the Commonwealth Secretariat. The CYP is the only international, intergovernmental agency devoted entirely to youth development. CYP Asia Centre supports the efforts of Commonwealth member countries in the formulation of policies and development programs, which effectively address issues and concerns of young women and men in Asia.

The Commonwealth Youth Program gives young people an opportunity to promote and provide practical support for the achievement of the Commonwealth's fundamental values. The focus of the program is to enhance the capacity of young people and youth networks to influence governance processes at local, national and international levels.

The CYP Asia Centre provides support to enhance the capacity of Youth Ministries, national youth councils and other youth related organisations, youth structures and young people in implementing programs on subject-specific youth development activities. This is achieved through workshops on topics like gender, sustainable development, conflict resolution and governance.

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