ICYF and Ministry of Culture and Sports of the State of Qatar held the Grand Closing Ceremony of “Qatar – OIC Youth Capital 2019” with participation of respective OIC Member States’ ministries, head of diplomatic missions, Qatari youth and youth of Muslim world. The ceremony was held at Doha Exhibition and Conference Center (DECC) on the sidelines of the 30th edition of the Doha International Book Fair.
The closing ceremony started with the recitation of verses from the Holy Qur’an. During the closing ceremony, H.E. Mr. Taha Ayhan, President of ICYF, delivered a welcoming speech, appreciating the successful implementation of Qatar OIC Youth Capital 2019 throughout the year by partner organizations. Mr. President welcomed the guests and started his speech by expressing appreciation and thanks to His Excellency Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of the State of Qatar and H.E. Salah bin Ghanim Al Ali, Minister of Culture and Sports of the State of Qatar for their commitment to development of young generation by providing high patronage to the OIC Youth Capital Programme.
“Under the “Doha – OIC Youth Capital 2019” program, we successfully reached out to more than 25.000 young people in the OIC Geography and beyond.” Mr. Taha Ayhan stated and continued, “We were also able to host almost 300 international participants during the year which helped raise awareness about global diplomacy, innovation, youth volunteerism, art, humanitarian work and disaster management.”
The speeches followed by Mr. Muhammad Al-Fahida, Representative of the Ministry of Culture and Sports. In his speech Fahida has stressed the importance of empowering Muslim youth and emphasized that Doha will remain a capital for all youth-related initiatives.
Year Long programs implemented in Doha included, Doha Muslim Youth Forum, Doha Oasis for Innovation, Doha Youth Camp for Voluntary and Humanitarian Work, Short Film Contest, Photo Contest, Visual Art Contest under the Doha OIC Youth Capital Innovation Awards and Tree Planting Event. With the special motto `Youth is the power of Ummah` Doha OIC Youth Capital 2019 was designed for the betterment of youth development.
‘Best Exemplary OIC Youth Capital Award’ was presented to Doha for successful implementation and realization of the International OIC Youth Capital Programme for 2019. Doha, being one of the best exemplary OIC Youth Capitals, has reached out thousands of youth to strengthen brotherly ties and promote their cultures and traditions. One of the most applauding achievements of the Doha OIC Youth Capital was its dedication to involve youth from every part of the Islamic world.
During the closing ceremony, winners of the “Qatar OIC Youth Capital 2019” competitions which held throughout the year were awarded. H.E. Minister of Culture and Sports Salah bin Ghanem Al Ali presented the awards of the Doha-The Capital of Islamic Youth for,
Sultan Ahmed Niloy from Bangladesh
Muhammed Albarbari from Palestine
Herru Yoga Pratama from Indonesia
Muthanna Majhool Kadhim from Iraq
Saleh Safran from Qatar
During the ceremony ICYF President Taha Ayhan has announced Dhaka as the Capital of Islamic Youth for 2020. Qatar handed over the OIC Youth Capital Key to Dhaka, as the next owner of the program. On behalf of Bangladesh, Minister of Youth and Sports in Bangladesh Zahid Ahsan Russel has expressed his pleasure to be the next youth capital.
“We are happy to choose Dhaka as the Islamic Youth Capital 20120 and I invite you all to visit Dhaka,” he said and added, “We are planning to organize 10 events ranging from Film festivals to Youth Summits.” In his speech Russell has stressed the importance of this platform for the Islamic cooperation.
OIC Youth Capital program was initiated by Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF) in its 2nd General Assembly held on October, 2014.
OIC region has almost 1.5 billion Muslims and 1/3 of it is constituted by youth. Carrying a considerable importance and reserving a huge portion of the Muslim population of the region, youth had to have a unique organization uniting them with the sense of solidarity and strengthening brotherly ties in a certain city of OIC member countries each year. This idea led to establishing an OIC Youth Capital under which certain activities, conferences, conventions, festivals and other special events would be held according to the interests and benefits of Muslim youth all year long.
