Excellencies, distinguished guests, dear partners, dear young people,

Good morning, and thank you for the honour of joining you at the opening of this fifth edition of the Youth Knowledge Forum.

We meet at a moment when young people are not only asking how to navigate uncertainty, but also how to shape the systems that will define their future. This Forum offers a space to move from diagnosis to agency: from understanding crises to imagining practical pathways for sustainability, opportunity, and shared responsibility.

Let me warmly thank the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation and ICESCO for their partnership, and the Kingdom of Morocco for once again opening its doors to this Forum, here in Rabat. For UNDP, co-organizing this gathering reflects a conviction at the heart of our mandate: sustainable development cannot be achieved without placing young people at the center of decision-making, innovation, and implementation.

This year’s theme, “From Crisis to Sustainability,” could not be more timely. Around the world, and across the Arab States region, young people are coming of age in a time of compounding crises. Conflict and displacement in Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Gaza, and the broader Middle East, earthquakes and water stress felt across North Africa all show how quickly hard-won development gains can be put at risk. Climate shocks, economic uncertainty, and a rapidly changing world of work add further pressure, and these burdens fall most heavily on the young. 

In the Arab States region alone, nearly half the population, about 49 percent, is under 25; across the Islamic world, the share is roughly the same, at just over 51 percent. That is not a challenge to manage; it is the region's clearest source of energy and ideas. 

This is exactly where UNDP places its work. Since 2015, through our regional programme, we have worked with more than 100,000 young people across the Arab States: building skills, supporting youth-led enterprises, and opening space for young people’s voices in public policy. Morocco is among the countries piloting our Green Growth and Jobs Accelerator for youth-led green businesses. 

Through our regional timbuktoo initiative, we are backing young innovators and entrepreneurs who are turning ideas into ventures. And through our new Regional Programme for Arab States, alongside partnerships such as the Global Skills Coalition and the Future Skills Academy, we are investing in the digital and green skills that tomorrow’s labour market will demand.

Morocco’s own experience also shows that sustainability is not an abstract ambition. From investments in renewable energy and green industrial opportunities to ongoing efforts to expand youth employment and inclusion, the country has important lessons to share on how national priorities can be connected to regional cooperation and youth opportunity.

Over these two days, you will discuss crisis response, the Sustainable Development Goals, careers in a changing world, and the extraordinary journeys of young people who turned adversity into achievement. I would ask you to hold onto one idea throughout: young people are not only beneficiaries of these agendas; they are co-authors of them. The sustainability we seek will be designed by you, with you — or it will not last!

UNDP is proud to stand alongside ICESCO, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation, the Kingdom of Morocco, and all our partners in this endeavour. To the young leaders in this room and joining us online, our commitment is simple: we are here to listen, to learn from you, and to walk with you— not as beneficiaries of our programmes, but as partners in shaping and delivering them.

I wish us all a rich and productive two days.

Thank you.