General Organizer:
Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart

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Festival 2009

Message from the Federal Chancellor

To all participants in this year’s UNESCO World Youth Festival in Stuttgart and the Festival organizers I send heartfelt greetings!

Germany is delighted to have so many young people from all over the world. You are very welcome! This is a vibrant and globally-minded country. Your stay here will surely be a memorable experience, an opportunity to forge new ties and friendships with young people from many different countries. I am especially grateful to the host families, thanks to whom participants will get a real taste of what life in Germany is like. I hope there will also be ample time for stimulating discussions and joint activities.

Over the next few days you will be focusing particularly on “Protection of the Climate and Energy for our Future”, the theme of the Festival Youth Congress. Protecting the climate and the world ecosystem is of existential importance, as we all know. That is why it is so vital that in December the international community reaches consensus in Copehagen on a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol that puts us on the right track for the future. Here a great deal still remains to be done. I am sure you too will have lively discussions on this multifaceted issue.

So let me wish all participants in the UNESCO World Youth Festival interesting encounters and stimulating debates and of course plenty of fun as well. Enjoy your stay in Stuttgart!

(sgd) Angela Merkel

Greeting Mayor Schuster

Dear visitor of this website,

It gives me great pleasure to warmly invite you to the UNESCO World Youth Festival 2009 in Stuttgart. From 13 – 19 July 2009, under the patronage of UNESCO and in close cooperation with the Stuttgarter Jugendhaus gGmbH, the festival will gather, once again after 2006, 500 young people from around the world in Stuttgart. Under the motto “All life is encounter – youth and the dialogue among peoples and cultures” participants will have outstanding opportunities to explore the thematic focus of the festival which is climate change and the climate-friendly use of energy. Throughout the festival, there are many opportunities for young people to benefit from this exchange and to form lasting friendships spanning the globe. In today’s world, especially, international understanding and the dialogue on climate change are of vital importance. I look forward to numerous interesting meetings with you.

See you soon in Stuttgart!
Yours

Dr. Wolfgang Schuster
Mayor of Stuttgart

Message from Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of the 2009 UNESCO World Youth Festival

Since its creation in 1945 to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among nations through education, science and culture, UNESCO has placed strong emphasis on developing policies and programmes that focus on youth. This is founded on a belief that young people’s formative experiences affect their Iife expectations: they are both the embodiment of the present and our future.

In this spirit, the 2009 UNESCO World Youth Festival in Stuttgart will gather 500 young people from all around the world for a festive week of intercultural exchange. Participants will have the opportunity to form lasting networks and connections, based on shared values, mutual understanding and tolerance. These are the building blocks of peace and of a just and sustainable future.

The youth of today have to be aware of the challenges of sustainable development and climate change as they will lead and live the changes required to respond to them.

I therefore welcome the initiative of the two-day youth Congress on the theme “Protection of the climate and energy for our future” at the Stuttgart City Hall, which will enable participants to explore the human, social and educational aspects of this important issue through discussions, workshops and conferences. A lively fringe programme of sport, culture and leisure activities will further help participants to establish worldwide contacts and connections. The fact that they will lodge with local host families will deepen these human exchanges.

I would like to thank and commend the City of Stuttgart for its dedication and efforts to making this worldwide youth encounter a reality.

Koïchiro Matsuura