The second edition of the Youth Festival was held today on the Eugen Doga pedestrian street in the capital. The event took place at the International Youth Day, celebrated annually on 12 August, in December, informs Moldpres.

The event was organized by the National Youth Council of Moldova (NYCM), Ministry of Youth and Sport in partnership with UNFPA in Moldova.

For his part, analyst programs within the UN Population Fund in Moldova, Eugenia Berzan pointed out that the theme of this year's festival is "The role of youth in the Sustainable Development Agenda for 2020-2030 years".

Young people represent a quarter of the population, but a good many of them have no access to education and employment. Thus, the unemployment rate among young people is three times higher than among adults.

The event organized several activities such as a panel discussion, attended by representatives of ministries of Education, Youth and Sports, Labour, Social Protection and Family, a fair youth organizations, as well as a borough jobs and educational institutions, contests, raffles etc.

The festival ended late in the evening with a rock music program presented by various bands from Moldova.

International Youth Day was established by the United Nations in 1999. In 2015 in Moldova were 831,799 young people, now their number has decreased to 800,216 people.