The All Myanmar Youth Conference of Tai Lai (Shan Ni or Red Shan) origin youths began on  July 15 at the Buddha University Hall of Bamoh monastery in Maha Aung Myay Township, Mandalay.
The conference organizing committee chairman Se Wan Phu said: “We hold this conference with the objectives of exploring what we can do for the Tai Lai in the region, what these Tai Lai youths can do and to uplift and give them empowerment.”
The conference that runs from July 15 to 17 focuses on issues of national causes, education, health, culture, environmental, news and information and legal issues, he said.
Mandalay Region Legislative Assembly, Ethnics Affairs Committee Chairman Dr. Aung Kyaw Oo who attended the conference said: “I’d like to say to these Shan Ni youths to use our assembly and parliament, present their ethnic rights of the Tai Lai tribes, and then we will discuss in our assembly what we can do for them.”
The conference is discussing the cultural and national identities of the Tai Lai youths as a national issue, promotion of the Tai Lai new year festival, religious festivals, social festivals and Tai Lai customary practices, observing and marking Tai Lai national days, and the honouring of Tai Lai heroes and eminent persons.
Moreover the conference also seeks to discuss the Tai Lai National Education system in all Tai Lai areas, as well as the promotion of Tai Lai literature and language, with the aim to develop a national curriculum from primary to university level.
This conference is being attended by over 100 Tai Lai people coming from the Kachin and Shan states and the Mandalay Region.
The conference will release a statement on Tai Lai ethnic tribe related issues and their future plans at the conclusion of the gathering.