Point of View

Yasser Salimi joins us as a Youth Ambassador from Tehran, Iran, where he is a board member of the Islamic Conference Youth Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation (ICYF-DC) and a Master’s candidate in International Relations.

MEYI’s Youth Ambassador Think Tank is a forum to encourage active discussion on topics of timely relevance to Middle Eastern youth. Our second topic deals with regional reactions to the upcoming U.S. elections.

Navtej Dhillon, Jad Chaaban, and Tarik Yousef share findings on the staggering costs of youth unemployment and youth exclusion, noting that the combined costs of youth unemployment for 11 countries in the Middle East region can reach as much as $25 billion a year, or 2.3% of the region’s GDP. These costs emphasize the urgent need for institutional and programmatic reform to invest more in the young people as assets for the region's growth.

Diane Singerman is Associate Professor in the Department of Government at American University's School of Public Affairs.

The Middle East Youth Initiative welcomes you to "Point of View."