2023 Global Young Leaders Dialogue concludes on hopeful note

Innovators of the next generation crossed borders on International Youth Day to build bridges and forge friendships

On August 12th, the 2023 Global Young Leaders Dialogue (GYLD) Annual Forum welcomed 150 international youths from nearly 30 countries and regions.

The President of Azerbaijan, President of Israel, Prime Minister of Pakistan and other dignitaries, as well as the heads of international organizations such as UN Women, the World Health Organization and the International Committee of the Red Cross, also sent their messages to the forum by video or congratulatory letters.

H.E. Moin ul Haque, Ambassador of Pakistan to China delivered the congratulatory letter from Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan, “The strength and vitality of a nation rests in its young leaders. The young people are the agents of change … I would like to appreciate the Forum’s efforts for bringing the youth together and encouraging dialogue amongst them on important contemporary issues.”

“Now is time for young people to step up, have your say, and act on the issues affecting your futures,” congratulated Qu Xing, Deputy Director-General of UNESCO, via video, “This Global Young Leaders Dialogue reflects the dynamism, aspirations, and commitments of youth in China, Asia, and worldwide for a better and more sustainable future.”

“It is encouraging to see you come together in a common cause, united by the shared desire to build a better future,” said Isaac Herzog, President of Israel, via video, “This forum is an excellent example of constructive collaborative engagement which has become abundantly urgent over the past three years. Forums such as this one are are irreplaceable mechanism for advancing a global community of leaders, while dedicated to promoting solutions to our shared challenges.”

The event was covered by People’s Daily, Global Times (both the international and domestic edition), CGTN, ChinaNews, China Economic Net, Beijing Daily, Beijing News, etc. They were very much interested in the young leaders, global achievers, and policy makers who had come together for idea exchanges and mutual learning.

People’s Daily Overseas spoke with Misbahul Ferdous, a Bangladeshi doctor at Beijing's Fuwai Hospital and Vice President of the Asian Pacific Society of Cardiology, who reflected on his own experience in China as a global talent. “Most of the Chinese people accept foreign people and are happy to make friends with them.” he said.

Olesia Ermakova, the Beijing curator of SCOLAR Network (a youth-led initiative platform affiliated with the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation), talked to CGTN on the importance of international cooperation, “The change starts from us. These changes can be small things that we can do today.” Having lived in China for six year, Ermakova said she was almost Chinese herself.

Participants joined to discuss three major topics facing the global youth today — “cross-cultural communication through video & audio”, “how to build a youth-development-friendly city”, and “climate change and resilience”. They agreed on booting joint efforts to promote the diversified integration of cultures, prosperity and progress, as well as sustainable development.

The GYLD 2023 coincided with the International Youth Day and also marked the two-year anniversary of president Xi Jinping’s written reply to the forum.

"Practice has shown that as the new and uniquely Chinese path to modernization grows even wider, it will bring better development prospects to China and more benefits to the world," wrote President Xi Jinping two years ago, in response to the participants of GYLD, “More overseas youths are welcome to China for exchanges. We hope that young people at home and abroad will enhance mutual understanding, develop friendship and achieve mutual success, thus contributing to the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.”

Mabel Lu Miao, Founder of the program and Secretary General of CCG, introduced that the GYLD program is to provide a platform for young talents around the world to understand more on China, exchange and learn from each other, and cultivate their leadership and young power for global development.

GYLD was hosted by CCG in partnership with Schwarzman College of Tsinghua University, Yanjing Academy of Peking University, and Beijing Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese.

During the forum, activities such as GYLD Talks, GYLD Photo Exhibition, Award Ceremony for the Top Ten Proposals of the Wisedemo Campaign on International Youth Intelligence Initiative, and the launching of the annual project of the International Youth Audiovisual Communication Program were also held.

The forum also saw the launch of the International Youth Program of Audio-Video Communication, supported by the International Cooperation Department of the National Radio and Television Administration, and jointly initiated by the Communication University of China, Peking University, the Training Center of National Radio and Television Administration, etc.