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YOUNG CENTRAL AMERICAN LEADERS TO HOLD FIRST ASSEMBLY IN GUATEMALA

  June 26, 2002

Young leaders from Central America and the Dominican Republic are set to gather in Guatemala City, June 27 to 30, for the Youth For Democracy Foundation's (JPD) first ever General Assembly. The event is being convened under the auspices of the Organization of American States' Unit for the Promotion of Democracy (UPD) and the Central American Institute of Political Studies (INCEP).

The meeting will consider a JPD document, "Democracy in the Region: Analysis from the Perspective of Young Leaders" as well as mechanisms to establish national chapters of the Foundation. Participants will seek to develop a coherent and effective national strategy to consolidate the Foundation's growing leadership.

A non-profit group of young leaders from around the Americas, the JPD organizes life in democracy awareness programs and other initiatives to promote, defend and consolidate democracy in the region. JPD members are graduates of regional courses on democratic values, institutions and practices, which the UPD organizes in conjunction with regional institutions, and are supported by INCEP and other institutions.

Since 1999, when the Foundation was established, its members have participated in electoral observation missions, public dialogue with presidential candidates, anti-corruption conferences and regional seminars on democracy consolidation and integration, among others.

Among those invited to the Assembly are the secretaries of state for youth affairs from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, Honduras' Secretary of State for Women's Affairs, members of the diplomatic corps and OAS and INCEP officials.

Reference: E-124/02