The Executive Yuan's youth advisory group held its first meeting today. Premier Jiang Yi-huah, who convened the meeting, expressed appreciation for the young advisors' passion for public affairs and desire to discuss national policy.
"The meaning of youth advisorship is in ideals, creativity and action," Jiang stated. "If these targets can be met over the next year, new possibilities will be born from this unprecedented program. I am looking forward to working together with all the advisors in this group."
Today's meeting was a good start to the program, he said. Of the 25 advisors, 22 were in attendance. Panel discussions between the advisors and government ministers were held, and the premier visited each of the panels to listen to and exchange views with the youths.
After discussing the idea with the premier, President Ma Ying-jeou presented the concept of the youth advisory group to the public in a May 20 speech commemorating Ma's sixth anniversary in office, Jiang said. Afterward, the Executive Yuan set to work establishing the group, ultimately selecting 25 advisors from a pool of 248 applicants.
At today's meeting, the advisors discussed the group's future operating model and agreed to convene a large meeting presided by the premier once every three months, Executive Yuan Spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun said. Since the advisory group is divided into six panels, each of the panels can hold its own meeting in between the quarterly gatherings. These panel meetings may take the form of town hall meetings where ministers without portfolio and representatives from the Executive Yuan's relevant departments can be invited to hear from members of the public. The advisors can express their personal opinions and the collective opinion of the group.
Aside from this "bottom-up" method of listening to citizens, government agencies will report to every large group meeting on progress they have made in major policies and youth programs over the preceding three months. The agencies will also hear recommendations from the advisory group. In addition, it was decided today that the final portions (such as summary or conclusion time) of each large group meeting should be broadcast live on the Internet, and that online interactions or exchanges with the public can be conducted during this time. Sun said the Executive Yuan is completely open to these ideas and will instruct the appropriate agencies to look into the suggestions more concretely.
Given that the advisors serve on a yearly basis, they should list annual goals and priority issues at the next group meeting, Sun said. Minister without Portfolio Joyce Feng will meet with the panels beforehand to identify priority topics and draw up preliminary consensuses. Since this will be the advisory group's first year, the advisors agreed that a record of the relevant information should be kept on file.
The advisors today also discussed ways of maintaining contact. Sun said the advisors can use Facebook to stay in touch with each other while using a dedicated website and email to communicate with the public. If the advisors have recommendations on government policies, they can speak to the ministers without portfolio directly. For concerns about administrative procedures, they may contact the Ministry of Education's Youth Development Administration.
Education, the green economy, indigenous culture, youth entrepreneurship, agriculture and food, fourth-generation (4G) telecommunications, the urban-rural digital divide, and the outflow of talent from remote areas were among the topics about which the young advisors expressed opinions today, the spokesperson said.
Many of the advisors also expressed the desire to better understand the organizational and operational mechanisms of the Executive Yuan in order to provide it with more recommendations, Sun noted.