Zhang Qian

zhqcindy@163.com

FOCUSING on youth development in Shenzhen, the First International Youth Conference (IYC) kicked off at the Youth Square in Futian District yesterday morning, with hundreds of youth representatives from globally known institutions making presentations at the opening ceremony.

The representatives invited to attend the opening ceremony included officials from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and young Ph.D. holders from around 40 prestigious universities such as MIT, Harvard, Cambridge and Tsinghua universities. Young entrepreneurs and outstanding representatives from all walks of life also attended the ceremony.

The theme of this year’s IYC, co-hosted by the Shenzhen Talent Office under the Shenzhen Municipal Human Resources and Social Welfare Bureau, Shenzhen Youth Association and the Youth Business Association of Shenzhen, is “Open, Innovation, Development and Future.”

Rounds of lectures, seminars and salons focusing on the soliciting of more global talents to Shenzhen will be held this week. To help conference attendees gain a better understanding of the city’s business environment, the organizers will also arrange tours of local companies, such as Tencent and BGI.

The aim of the conference is explicit: to attract more young global talents to set up bases in Shenzhen and help the city grow. The head of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League of China, Liu Guangyang, said that the city’s current achievements would never have come so smooth and fast if not for the waves of efforts contributed by youths.

“We are now exploring paths toward making Shenzhen a youth development city, where the city provides a friendlier and generally better environment for youths seeking development in Shenzhen, and the youths promote the city’s social and economic development,” said Liu in a welcoming speech at the opening ceremony.

According to Liu, Shenzhen has been focusing on youth development since its establishment three decades ago, and now the city has its eyes on attracting even more young people from other parts of the world.

In 2016, the Shenzhen city government rolled out 178 favorable policies specifically to lure talents. The city took in 52,000 fresh university graduates in the first half of 2017.