On 22 April, the Asia Population and Development Association (APDA), together with the Forum of Arab Parliamentarians on Population and Development (FAPPD), organized the Arab and Asian Parliamentarians’ Dialogue on Addressing Youth Empowerment and Gender Equality towards 2030 Agenda in Tokyo, Japan, with the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Japan Trust Fund (JTF) and in cooperation with the Japan Parliamentarians Federation for Population (JPFP) and International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). The dialogue offered a platform to share experiences and deepen discussions with focus on youth empowerment in the three areas of education, decent work opportunities, and gender equality and health.

In the opening ceremony, Hon. Aisawa Ichiro, Acting Chair of JPFP, gave an opening address and welcomed participants from Japan and abroad. He mentioned that both APDA and FAPPD have developed platforms for Arab and Asian parliamentarians since 2017 to broadly discuss the ICPD agenda and then expressed his hope that this dialogue would serve as a platform for sharing young people’s initiatives and engaging in meaningful discussions on how to fully harness their potential in societies. On behalf of supporting and cooperating organizations, the opening ceremony was also addressed by Dr. Hala Youssef, Deputy Regional Director a.i of UNFPA Arab States Regional Office (ASRO), Dr. Fadoua Bakhadda, Regional Director of IPPF Arab World Region, and Hon. Abdelhady Elkasbey, MP Egypt and former President of FAPPD.

Session 1 “Youth Empowerment and Equal and Quality Education” examined how to provide equitable, quality educational programmes to promote empowerment of young people in an equitable manner, and highlighted efforts to address cultural social and economic barriers and practical examples of educational support. Session 2 “Decent Work Opportunities for Young People” presented policies and case studies to help young people access entrepreneurship and decent work opportunities while in school and during the transition process from education to employment. Session 3 “Healthy Youth and Gender Equality” discussed youth’s healthy life style and gender equality, especially interventions to address gender-based violence (GBV) among young people and promote universal access to sexual reproductive health (SRH) services.

The meeting was attended by a total of 130 participants from 20 countries. Shizuoka Vision Research Institute, Shizuoka City Government, Nihon University, Plan International Japan, and Hon. Ishida Masahiro shared their experiences in Japan, and Hon. Makihara Hideki served as Chair of Session 3.