The Young Americas Business Trust (YABT), an organization affiliated with the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) is collaborating with the Education Development Center (EDC) in the promotion of the Youth Employment Summit (YES).

The “YES Mexico 2004”, will be held from October 4^th ~ 7^th, 2004 in Boca del Rio, Vera Cruz, Mexico. This will be the 2^nd Global Summit for Youth Employment; the first was held in Alexandria, Egypt in 2002.

The YABT develops employment opportunities for young people through self-employment and entrepreneurship. It focuses on four major areas: Leadership and networking, practical skills training, technology, and partnerships with national and international organizations to increase resources for successful programs.

YES is an international network of governments and non-governmental organizations to raise the level of awareness of the importance of youth employment as a public policy priority and to network local organizations to work more effectively to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations.

YABT is promoting the YES Summit throughout its network of young people and youth organizations across the Americas region and working with national organizations of the Member States at the Organization of American States (OAS) to encourage their governments to support and promote this important event. Creation of employment and entrepreneurial opportunities are major priorities of all OAS Member States and the Plans of Action of the Summits of the Americas.

YES Mexico 2004 will be the YES Campaign's first Milestone Event, bringing together diverse stakeholders from youth organizations, governments and NGO's as well as leaders in academia. This Summit will be an important process for evaluating the global progress on youth employment and an opportunity to better define strategies for integration of future youth programs and participation.

The YES Mexico will be hosted by the government of Mexico. Strategies will be reviewed within the context of the YES Framework for Action; successful programs, policies, and projects will be highlighted and shared among Summit delegates.

To learn more about the conference and register to participate, please visit the Summit website: http://www.yesweb.org/mexico/.

For more information about the Young Americas Business Trust, visit: http://www.ybiz.net or contact Roy Thomasson at rthomasson@oas.org.