Minister, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you for inviting me to be here today, and thank you all for coming together to talk about the important and essential issue of engaging and investing in young people for development.

I am deeply committed to ensuring the rights and empowerment of adolescents and youth, including their sexual and reproductive health and rights, as essential pillars in building vibrant, healthy, and prosperous societies and economies.

There is an undeniable fact; there are currently 1.8 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 24 around the world. They are consumers, producers, reproducers – and their choices and opportunities will define the world as we know it.

We must work together to ensure that each and every young person can reach their full potential. We cannot afford economically and socially to leave this resource untapped.

This means making sure that they have access to education, to comprehensive sexuality education, to sexual and reproductive health, and that they have the ability to exercise their rights, make informed decisions, and plan their lives.

There is another undeniable fact; women and girls continue to face systematic discrimination and inequities – and pay the highest price for the neglect of their sexual and reproductive health and rights. 

Gender equality and access to sexual and reproductive health and rights are not standalone issues, but ones that are central to social development, education, health, poverty reduction, and economic growth.

We all know that investing in girls and women is not just the right thing to do — it’s a smart investment in achieving a more equitable world.  The status of women is central to the health of a society. If one part suffers, so does the whole.

As the Danish Minister expressed, we are incredibly proud and pleased that Copenhagen has been selected as the location for the Women Deliver 2016 Conference.

I look very much forward to not only welcoming the world’s leading girls’ and women’s health and rights advocates – including youth advocates from around the globe – to Copenhagen for this historic event, but also to be participating once again in what is an inspirational, powerful and potentially game-changing forum. 

And we need these game-changing events, ideas, and people if we are to accelerate progress in the final year to meet the targets set forward in the Millennium Development Goals. 

We must look to young people and youth advocates as our partners – because they are changing the game for their families, their communities, and their nations every day.  

Thank you.