PM Kamla: Young people can shape the future

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar SC, centre, poses with the young professionals following a meeting at the San Fernando Teaching Hospital on Wednesday evening. PHOTO COURTESY THE OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER.
YOUNG people in Trinidad & Tobago now have the opportunity to create the kind of country they want by contributing their ideas for Government’s policy and implementation programmes Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said on Wednesday evening.
The Prime Minister was at the time speaking with young professionals as she completed another round of the National Conversation at the San Fernando Teaching Hospital.
Following a lively group conversation with young professionals from varying fields, the Prime Minister said: “Being here today, and having this conversation has effectively brought you all fully into the picture as stakeholders in ensuring our nation can become stronger in the years to come.”
In April of this year, the Prime Minister launched the National Conversation Initiative as the single largest coordinated national consultation in the history of Trinidad & Tobago.
As she met with young professionals, the Prime Minister noted: “Each and every one of you, and your peers across our country rank as our most important assets for the creation of a strong and sustainable knowledge-based society in the future.”
She added: “The vitality of youth is an extremely valuable national resource. If you are equipped, experienced, comfortable, and confident, the future you experience will actually be shaped by you through your input and direction of your Government.”
She said the National Conversation was motivated by her “strong conviction that for the Government to achieve its vision of prosperity for all today and in the future, citizens must be able to speak their minds freely, share their thoughts on policies and day-to-day governance, and feel confident that their views are being heard.”
“The National Conversation is my guarantee that this contact, this listening process, will become a permanent part of how we govern,” the Prime Minister stated.
She added that even after formal meetings have taken place, the National Conversation will remain in place through the website (www.nationalconversation.t
The National Conversation is such a wonderful and unique initiative. For the first time, as a young person, I feel like the Government is actually listening to us! You know how great it is for the PRIME MINISTER to sit down and have a chat with the young people of T&T? That’s something I’m definitely impressed with. Kudos on a wonderful idea and it’s equally wonderful execution madam PM!