Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The funds allocated from Azerbaijan's state budget for Youth Policy in the first years of independence amounted to 25,000 manats, but today this figure exceeds 25 million manats.

This was announced by the head of the Sector for work with youth organizations under the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration's Social and Political Department, Vusal Guliyev, at a seminar on the topic "The role of trade unions in the formation of youth employment policy" on May 5.

The event was co-organized by Confederation of Trade Unions of Azerbaijan and the International Labor Organization.

He said this is an indication of the attention paid by the Azerbaijani leadership to the youth development and their employment and health.

"The process of preparing the state program entitled 'Azerbaijani youth in 2011-2015' greatly differs from the same process on the previous programs, as the young people are directly involved in this work now," he said.

Guliyev also noted establishment of the Youth Fund was one of the proposals offered in this regard. It was included in the program.

"The Youth Fund was established under the Youth and Sports Ministry in 2011 after the president's approval," he said. "Later, the status of the fund was changed and it became the Youth Fund under the Azerbaijani President."

In his remarks MP Sattar Mehbaliyev said the global financial crisis has created serious obstacles to youth employment.

He said the main problem caused by the crisis is that the unemployment rate among the young people is three times higher compared to the middle-aged people.

Mehbaliyev went on to note that Azerbaijan joined a number of countries which are the members of the Youth Employment Network, an initiative implemented with technical assistance of the International Labor Organization and under the UN support.

He said the main priority of Azerbaijan's employment policy is to reduce youth unemployment, and increase their participation in the business activities. Also, the country adopted a national program for youth, which is aimed at the resolving the youth unemployment problem.

There are 1.2 billion young people in the world, 43 percent of whom are engaged in useful works. The Azerbaijani young people from 15 to 29 years consist of 29.3 percent of the total population. The youth unemployment rate is equal to 10.9 percent in the country.

The youth in Azerbaijan are distinguished with activities in all sectors of public life, playing an important role in the implementation of political, economic, humanitarian and social activities. In recent 10 years investment in Azerbaijan's youth sphere has increased by 100 times.

The government supports the youth under the Law on Youth Policy and implements the State Program on Youth of Azerbaijan.

The main purposes of the youth policy in Azerbaijan are to create suitable conditions for physical, mental and spiritual development of youth, to assist in discovering their skills and abilities, to solve their social problems, and to guarantee the protection of their rights.

The State Program for study of Azerbaijani youth abroad for 2007-2015 ensures the education of the Azerbaijani youth abroad. Also, a number of organizations support the Azerbaijani youth's activities both inside and outside of the country. Over 200 independent youth organizations are registered in the country.