Skopje, 10 November 2022 (MIA) - President Stevo Pendarovski and the UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia Afshan Khan met with young activists and discussed the current challenges that young people face in the country. The participants discussed the importance of youth participation, climate action, improving the quality of education and acquiring skills among young people, mental health and peer violence. These themes were identified as areas in which young people can contribute with concrete activities, Pendarovski's Office said in a press release. In his remarks, President Pendarovski underscored the importance of this kind of proactivity of today's generation of young people aimed at dealing with the most pressing issues that represent a kind of barriers in their personal or collective development. In this regard, he also underlined the need for maximum commitment of all relevant actors in our country in recognizing the momentum and nurturing the potential of young people, establishing initiatives, projects and platforms that will enable their networking towards a common contribution. That, according to President Pendarovski, is one of the key prerequisites for creating long-term policies and strategies that will lead to the overall progress of our society. UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia Afshan Khan expressed satisfaction that young people are able to find solutions to the issues that are most important to them, and with such initiatives, they are enabled to grow into resilient and active citizens. Highlighting the need to further encourage the contribution of young people in addressing today's challenges, she underlined the importance of UNICEF's cooperation with the Office of the President in the direction of creating space for young people to shape the future they desire. Over the past few years, President Pendarovski and UNICEF have significantly strengthened the long-standing cooperation in the direction of the advancement of the rights of children and youth in the country with a series of activities. Las year, President Stevo Pendarovski and the UNICEF launched joint initiative “Rethink the Future”, which aims to give children and young people space to engage in defining a vision for the future they wish for themselves and for future generations. During the meeting, young people shared their experience in participating in other initiatives such as the Youth Climate Summit, the UPSHIFT programme, the Prespa Forum Dialogue, U-Report, the Transforming Education Summit, 2021 World Children's Day, as well as in the initiative of Youth Advocates for Justice for Children.