Brasília, March 15, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The Minister of Social Development and Hunger Alleviation, Patrus Ananias, participated, yesterday (14) in a seminar on youth, in Belo Horizonte (MG). According Ananias, Brazilian youth have been one of the priorities of the federal government since President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office. Since then, various programs have been implemented with youth as their main focus, especially those youngsters who face the greatest difficulties in social inclusion and the job market. The government intends to improve the programs aimed at youth and wants to increase its activities even more among the 33 million youths who represent around 20% of the Brazilian population.

The Minister explained how the government intends to place priority on this segment of the population. In the next two months an interministerial group composed of 19 federal government Ministries and special secretariats will define a new national policy for youth. The group's chief goal is to integrate the government's diverse programs for young people. After the two-month working period, the group will submit a document to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with guidelines for a new Youth Policy. (DAS)