05.09.2019
The forth program of the Youth Peace Ambassadors of Afghanistan and Pakistan successfully ended in Kabul.
Mediothek Afghanistan launched the third phase of the Afghan & Pakistani Youth Peace Ambassadors-2019; the event marked the fourth major program of the initiative this year so far. Titled “Dialogue Forum with Political Decision –Makers” the event officially inaugurated on August 31, 2019 in Kabul with twenty five youth ambassadors participating from across various provinces of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The program was preceded by three separate programs namely “Seminar on History and Politics” in Kabul and Islamabad in May of 2019 and a “SWOT Analysis workshop” in July in Kabul between Afghan and Pakistani youth ambassadors.
The “dialogue forum with expert and political decision–makers” provided a rare opportunity for the young ambassadors of both countries to meet key experts and influential policy-makers in Kabul and discuss a broad range of pressing topics, opportunities and challenges for regional cooperation and integration and with a great emphasis on the role of youth.
Experts, scholars and policy-makers discussed common values, culture, common concerns, opportunities and how to work together for regional integration and peace in the light of challenges and opportunities in the broader region.
The young ambassadors of Afghanistan and Pakistan engaged in constructive dialogues and discussions on traditions, culture, commonalities and shared their views on how to turn threats into opportunities through such productive interactions among young leaders and experts.
Sophia Siddiqui, a young ambassador from Islamabad, Pakistan, says “this program provided us with the opportunity to learn and understand the historical and political contexts of the region; in fact there are exceptional opportunities for promoting a culture of peace between the people of both countries,” adding “in other words, we found that Afghanistan and Pakistan can be good friends and great economic and political partners in many fronts and the only such interaction makes this possible.”
The young ambassadors hailed the initiative calling it a practical mechanism for regional cooperation and unity, especially given the fact that both Afghanistan and Pakistan are very young countries and the involvement of youth in such interactions could have far-reaching social impacts on both sides of the borders.
“I have extremely positive view about the initiative as it will further enable us to strengthen relations, exchange ideas, eliminate negative perceptions and criticisms about the brotherly neighboring countries” says Gul Ahmad Hamid, a member of the young ambassadors from Kandahar.
The program also provided a chance to the young leaders to experience culture and meet with local officials, as a part of the cultural activities the group visited Darul Aman Palace – renovated for the 100th year of Afghan Independence after its destruction in the Afghan civil war – and met with engineers and culture experts.
Ahmad Wali Ahmadi, a young ambassador from Kabul, believes that one of the major reasons of mistrust in the region is lack of proper understanding between the citizens of both the countries, and this is despite numerous commonalities. Civil society actros, cultural and social groups and local communities who can make a big difference in shaping public opinions at local, national and international level are not interacting.
“Therefore, it is very important to promote people to people contact as a means of promoting peace, cultural understanding and conflict resolution,” added Mr. Ahmadi.
Experts and policy-makers from the Regional Studies Center of the Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan, Center for Strategic Studies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, independent think-tanks and civil society institutions were invited to lecture the group of young leaders and discus issues of great importance for regional unity and integration.
Esmatullah Jafari, a young peace ambassador from the western province of Herat sums up the event in his own words, “the agenda of the event was academically managed and professionally met the needs and issues raised in the minds of youth, and the agenda was managed in a manner that every single participant was satisfied. Experts and speakers invited to lecture, were really experts knew their topics of discussion inside out and in short the event was practical, deductive and very informative.”
The event was organized in collaboration with Media Training and Research Center (MTRC) and concluded with a cultural evening bringing together Kabul based representatives of civil society organizations, representatives of media institutions and members of youth groups in an informal networking event.
The Afghan-Pakistani Youth Ambassadors for Peace initiative is funded by the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany.
