PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said on Thursday that the National Youth Carnival would be organised in three phases at the district, regional and national levels. The objective of this whole exercise is to provide ample opportunities to the students to come forward and explore their hidden talents.

The chief minister said this after unveiling the trophy of the National Youth Carnival Mega Challenge-2017 here at the newly-renovated Nishtar Hall.

Provincial Minister for Sports Mehmood Khan, adviser to the chief minister on tourism Abdul Munim Khan, additional secretary Tariq Khan, NAB additional director Mian Waqar, director general sports Junald Khan,DG youth affairs Asfandyar Khan, CEO of Liaison Corporation Usman Khan and a large number of youth were also present during the colourful unveiling ceremony.

Speaking on this occasion, the chief minister termed NYC the biggest event of the youth in the country carrying prize money of Rs5 million. He said that this time they had widened up the pool of the carnival by involving maximum number of students of the colleges and public and private sector universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and rest of the country.

Mr Khattak said that the KP government had announced the first-ever youth policy and allocated Rs1 billion for youth development and their activities. The National Youth Carnival is an activity introduced for the first time by the KP government in Pakistan in 2013 and now the number of youth participation has reached 25,000 who would take part in 30 different skills development activities.

He lauded the organisers for regularly holding the National Youth Carnival which was one of creative endeavours introduced to provide a platform for the youth to explore their hidden talents.He also appreciated the National Accountability Bureau for joining in as the organising partner in NYC. He said that the government was keen to involve youth in healthy activities and that was why work was launched on 120 playgrounds in the province of which 70 had been completed. He said that the government wanted the youth of KP and rest of the country to establish a link between them for peace building and youth development.

Earlier, Mehmood Khan, Mian Waqar and Usman Khan also addressed the gathering.

The youth will compete this time in the categories like drama, thematic art, painting, calligraphy, short film, Urdu, English and Pashto singing, cultural dance, music band, Qira`at, spelling bee, Na`at, Urdu and English declamation, Urdu and Pashto essay writing, quiz competition, business plan, ad making, standup comedy, unique talent, console gaming, chess and spotphotography.

Cultural shows, education expo, city visits and many such events will also be part of this year`s youth carnival. The competitors would be provided free accommodation and intra-city transportation.