I admire young people who are concerned with the affairs of their community and nation perhaps because I also became involved in struggle whist I was still at school.

We have so much information but maybe we don't know what to do with that information. So we run the risk of becoming museums of young people who have everything but not knowing what to do with it. We don't need young museums but we do need holy young people.

Many young people are taken in by ideologies, used and exploited as cannon fodder or a strike force to destroy, terrify or ridicule others. Worse yet, many of them end up as individualists, hostile and distrustful of others; in this way, they become an easy target for the brutal and destructive strategies of political groups or economic powers.

Our nation is filled with tremendous energy of the youth. Whatever future we desire of, we must keep the youth at the centre. If we do this, we can surge ahead at an unmatchable pace!

I have met 18 million youth, and each wants to be unique.

An economically peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka is the dream of youth of the nation. My message for the youth is to collectively work for an inclusively developed Sri Lanka.