US to reach out to young Muslims, says special envoy

New Delhi, Feb 16(ANI): United States Special Representative for the Muslim Community Farah Pandith on Tuesday said that focus of the Obama administration was to engage young Muslim generations in dialogue based on the concept of mutual respect and interest.

Addressing a seminar in New Delhi, Pandith said that US wanted to invest in long-term relationship with Muslim youth and establish people-to-people contact.

"Secretary of State (Hillary) Clinton has asked me to work with our embassies around the world to engage in this dialogue building, this partnership building process with Muslim communities based on present frame work of mutual interest and mutual respect and in addition focus on the next generation," Pandith said.

"More than 45 percent of the world population is under the age of 30, and we want to invest in long-term relationship building with this generation," she added.

Pandith is responsible for executing the government's vision for engagement with Muslims around the world.

Born in Jammu and Kashmir capital Srinagar, Farah Pandith was earlier Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. (ANI)