SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico: Youth participants of the 15th Annual CMEx conference got the opportunity to highlight some areas affecting young people and the Caribbean. The young Caribbean delegation in a round table discussion focused on youth, culture, recycling, marketing. The delegation identified areas for youth development, challenges facing young people in the Caribbean and by extension the world, and how can youth contribute to their individual community.

It was identified that the young population are being plaqued by youth violence, crime, drug and alcohol abuse. For the young delegation the CMEx conference is the right initaive to tackle this issue and called on the governments and other sectors of society to be a part of the solution.

As one delegate put: “Why run away from it?”

Another area of concern is the dominance of international culture in the Caribbean and among young people.

One of the youth delegates told Caribbean Net News that he is concerned as to why a 50 out of 100 Caribbean youth prefers a game of football or basketball instead of cricket.

With a wide cross-section of international culture overshadowing the Caribbean, it is believed that enough is not being done within the Caribbean to preserve traditional culture.