Nine Countries to Collaborate in Indonesia Youth Summit

Youth and Sports Minister Erick Thohir stated that the Indonesia Youth Summit (IYS) youth development programme is cooperating with nine countries so that Indonesia’s younger generation can study best practices for youth advancement. “There is America, China, England, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and others,” Erick told the media after the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government regarding the organisation of the Wirasena Youth Camp and the Indonesia Sport Summit in 2026 in Jakarta on Monday. IYS is a leadership development programme that brings together youth from various regions to discuss, collaborate, and design solutions for social, economic, educational, environmental, and national development issues. The programme, which primarily aims to enhance the leadership capacity of the younger generation, is attended by university students, school pupils, activists, young entrepreneurs, and young professionals. He explained that cooperation with other countries that have advanced youth development is carried out so that Indonesia can make comparisons, particularly by studying best practices that can be applied to advance national youth development. “God willing, I have also contacted the UN (United Nations), and later we will also request global benchmarking regarding our youth, what our position is to renew and invest for the future of our youth,” said Erick. The Youth and Sports Minister also emphasised that the programme is very important in paving the way for the younger generation as future leaders of the nation. If the younger generation is not prepared, he said, they will lose competitiveness with other nations, which could become a stigma that will also diminish Indonesia’s competitiveness as a nation.