UNITED NATIONS, April 8 (Xinhua) -- United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) President Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces on Monday highlighted the importance of "truly inclusive inter-generational cooperation."

Speaking at the 2019 Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum, the UNGA president said that young and old generations must work together to "tackle the challenges" because "all of us have responsibilities, young and old."

"There are challenges we need to address, such as creating the 344 million new jobs needed to sustain our growing workforce," she said.

Young people are often seemed as "problems to be solved," she said. "But there is no limit to what this generation - the largest, the most educated, the most globally minded in history - can deliver."

She also called for more jobs, better jobs, green jobs for young people.

Currently, there are 64 million young people are unemployed, and more than twice that number make less than 90 U.S. dollars a day, said Espinosa.

"With the right approach, rapid technological advances could improve these figures. Without it, they could get worse," she said.

The UNGA president also highlighted the role youth in peace and security. "We know that the vast majority of fragile and conflict-affected states are struggling to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We know these states are home to a third of all young people. And we know youth are crucial actors on the ground," she said.

Themed "Empowered, Included and Equal," the two-day ECOSOC Youth Forum, which kicked off on Monday, will feature plenary sessions, interactive thematic and regionally-based discussions.

The annual Youth Forum was organized for the first time in 2012, and has evolved into a key platform where young people can contribute to policy discussions at the United Nations through their collective ideas, solutions and innovations.

According to the the UNGA president, the discussions of the forum will inform the annual High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) in July, and they will also feed into the HLPF to be held in September under the auspices of the General Assembly. It will be "the first comprehensive stock-take - and drive to scale-up solutions - at the level of heads of state and government." Enditem

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