Crowded streets, honking cars and large crowds characterize the rapidly growing metropolis of New Delhi, the location of the Asia-Europe Young Leaders Forum (YLF) in October 2012. The Indian capital demonstrates why demographic change is an important challenge and therefore a suitable topic for the YLF.
The Young Leaders Forum connects young people in leadership positions from Asia and Europe. It provides a space for them to discuss crucial global developments and to find solutions to deal with change. The dynamics of demographic developments in Asia and Europe are among the important challenges that decision makers must face. But how to respond to these trends?
A total of 32 young leaders from business and politics discussed this question from 30 October to 1 November 2012 to find ways of overcoming the challenges of demographic change.
While Europe is fighting problems caused by a shrinking and aging population, countries like India need to find ways of integrating its many young people into the labor market, social security systems and training programs.Therefore, the participants in the YLF focussed on the aspects of migration, social security and employability, gaining practical knowledge of these issues through field visits.
The Forum was attended by high-ranking speakers from Germany and Asia and was organized by Bertelsmann Stiftung and the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business. The results were presented to 600 decision makers from politics and business at the Asia Pacific Conference of German Business, where forum participants also discussed strategies for the management of demographic change with German Minister of Economics Philipp Rösler.
