Thierry Santa. Photo: New Caledonia Congress
New Caledonia's president has placed the future of young people at the centre of a programme at a policy outline in Congress.
In a formal declaration, Thierry Santa said the youth was a concern which transcended all differences.
He called for policies to focus on youth as half the population is under the age of 30.
The anti-independence opposition Caledonia Together party dismissed his speech as empty and devoid of concrete measures.
The pro-independence UNI group said the address side-stepped social inequality while the pro-independence Caledonian Union welcomed the declaration as pragmatic.
Coinciding with the Congress session, a women's group held a demonstration denouncing the inaction of politicians in the face of violence against women.
The latest rally was prompted by the killing of a teenage girl near Noumea earlier this month.