Riga, Feb 19 (LETA) - The Saeima on Thursday adopted amendments to the Youth Law, which aim to improve youth policy and work with youth, as well as to extend the age limits for young people from 13 to 30 years.

Until now, the law defined a young person as a person aged between 13 and 25.

The amendments oblige municipalities to designate a body responsible for youth work. This will enable all parties involved in youth policy and youth work to clearly identify the cooperation structure in the municipality, the Ministry of Education and Science noted.

At the legislative level, the Education and Science Ministry is mandated to carry out research and monitoring work to ensure that youth policy is data and evidence-based. The provisions of the amendments will be implemented within the limits of the resources foreseen by the ministry in the annual Budget Law.

The amended law brings the concepts already used in the law into line with the practice of youth policy and youth work, clarifies the use of certain concepts and complements the description of the key principle of youth policy "mobility and international cooperation".

The Latvian Youth Council will coordinate the national youth dialogue, including providing information support to young people involved in the dialogue and organizing seminars, conferences and other national youth dialogue events in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science.

The ministry will supervise the coordination of the dialogue and, in cooperation with the Latvian Youth Council, organize the participation of representatives of the Saeima, the Cabinet of Ministers and other state institutions in the national youth dialogue.

The activities of the youth dialogue, including coordination, will be financed from the state budget. The Cabinet of Ministers will determine the procedures for implementation and coordination of the dialogue, as well as the procedures and criteria for its financing.