The main purpose of the Commonwealth Youth Programme is to assist in harnessing the resources constituted by the youth in the several member states of the Commonwealth. In most cases the active participation of the youth is crucial to the kind and scope of development desired. However, throughout the developing countries of the Commonwealth there is a high incidence of unemployment and under-employment - especially among the youth, many of whom, already suffering the debilitating effects of genuine poverty, are further enervated by the hopelessness engendered by the unemployment situation around them.

Invitations to participate in the Symposium were extended to the governments of the Commonwealth Caribbean, Mr. Thomas Sandiford of the Caribbean Assembly of Youth (President, World Assembly of Youth), and - as Observers - CARICOM, The Caribbean Development Bank, ECLA and ILO/PREALC.

This symposium has been advertised as one which concerns itself with Employment Strategies and Programmes in an effort to find solutions to the problem of unemployment, particularly amongst the young people in the region.

The Symposium noted that, irrespective of definitions regarding the basis of measurement, unemployment in the region is high.

The Symposium urged that the basic development objective within the region should be the elimination of poverty through the equitable distribution of economic activity, the equitable sharing of assets, and the harnessing of local resources in the common interest of the general well-being.

It was recognised that CARICOM makes special provision in respect of the development of the LDC's. However, within the context of the circumstances pertaining to the Caribbean Development Bank as well as the difficulties experienced by the LDC's in obtaining required capital.

With regard to the role of youth programmes in the development effort the Symposium.

The following is not a compilation of the several recommendations made by the Symposium. It is, in the strict sense of the term, a summary; and its aim is to reflect the emphasis which the Symposium placed on a concern with fundamental principles and directions for thought and action.