The General Authority for Youth and Sports has signed a joint technical cooperation agreement with the German (GIZ) company for international cooperation to encourage youth to peaceful development in Libya.

The agreement came during a meeting between the authority's head, Bashir Al-Qantari, and representatives from the Giz company last week, in which they discussed aspects of cooperation in the field of development, according to the media office of the General Authority for Youth and Sports.

The two sides reviewed the possibility of implementing a joint strategic plan aimed at encouraging and supporting youth to launch development projects.

Al-Qantari pointed out in this regard the need to concentrate on capacity-building and training of young people on specific skills required for future, and non-traditional jobs, in addition to entrepreneurship and small enterprises.

He also emphasized the need for thorough studies to support start-ups through their difficult initial phase, stressing the importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to the economies of both developing and developed countries.