* The Mauritanian government announced this past week that it has received 40 million dollars from the World Bank to support youth employment projects and to reduce unemployment. The money comes as a grant from the World Bank Group to support the youth empowerment project and create job opportunities for Mauritanian youth. The money aligns with the Mauritanian initiative launched last year called the "Youth Employment Project" which aims to create decent employment opportunities for youth and women, especially from the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. The project is supervised by the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training.

* Tanja 24 reported on June 21 that the House of Culture in Fnideq, Morocco held the fourth round of the initiative “Open Doors for Entrepreneurship” for youth seeking to engage in entrepreneurial work. This initiative looks to empower youth who have project ideas in the city and to connect them with decision makers within the field of entrepreneurship to provide them with guidance and resources for funding to ultimately achieve better financial inclusion among youth in the region. 

* One of the region’s biggest e-commerce companies, Noon, announced its expansion of its customer service operations in Saudi Arabia which will create hundreds of jobs for Saudi youth. The company will hire, train, and empower young Saudis as part of the initiative to help boost employment, develop skill sets, and drive the local economy. The customer service team will be made up of Saudi youth living in the capital Riyadh, as well as from those working remotely across the country. 

* On June 24, Zaman reported that the president of the Turkish Democracy and Progress Party, Ali Babacan, has ridiculed President Erdogan’s call for Turkish youth to get married, which is becoming increasingly difficult amid the rising unemployment rates and deteriorating economic challenges. Babacan added that most Turkish youth live off their allowances provided by their families, those who found work generally work in low paying jobs, and that one in four Turkish youth is currently not working or in school, with an estimated 4 million Turkish people currently unemployed. 

* The Egyptian Youth Business Association called for the launch of bodies to organize international events and festivals and came to a join cooperation agreement with the College of Business Administration at the American University. Ahmed Al Shall, a member of the Tourism and Aviation Committee of the Egyptian Youth Business Association stated that the COVID-19 pandemic forced event tourism to search for new ways to design and present meetings, conferences, and events as the biggest challenge facing institutions, associations, and organizing companies in planning and presenting their conferences. He also said that there is a great need for support in producing a virtual event and integrated digital meeting platforms going forward. The association calls for the government to inaugurate bodies to organize international events and festivals. 

* The first Vice President of the Sovereignty Council of Sudan, Lieutenant-General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo confirmed that he will be in attendance and will address the National Youth Conference on Entrepreneurship which will be held in July in Khartoum, Sudan. He stated that the country's Road to the Future initiative is to be implemented in all states in the country, and that they will focus on areas of training, raising, and building the capacities of the country's youth, and to enhance production support programs, namely those involving agriculture. The head of the initiative, Musab Abdel Qader reaffirmed Dagalo's unlimited support of the initiative, as well as his acknowledgement of the youth to lead entrepreneurship projects and to enhance and support the national economy. 

* The Chinese tech company Huawei partnered with the Technical and Vocational Training Cooperation in launching a new initiative that would see 20,000 Saudi students receive training in the field of technology. The initiative aims to strengthen information and communications technology sills among Saudi youth and develop employment opportunities while supporting Saudi Arabia's digital economy. It is part of the Saudi Talent Enabling Program developed by Huawei and is aligned with the Kingdom's Vision 2030 program. The program is free, and it includes three days of online training covering the technical fields of artificial intelligence, big data, Internet of Things, security, routing and switching, and WLAN wireless computer networking.