By Arul Louis

United Nations, Jan 13 (IANS): India has contributed $50,000 to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres's Office of Envoy on Youth to help with its mission of involving young people in the world body's goals.

Paulomi Tripathi, a First Secretary in India's UN Mission, handed over the contribution on Friday to the Youth Envoy, Jayathma Wickramanayake.

The contribution is voluntary with no strings attached and is in addition to the regular payments India makes to the UN's general and peacekeeping budgets.

"Home to 350 million young people, India, is an important partner to us and we really look forward to working with you," Wickramanayake tweeted.

She thanked India's Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin for his "leadership and the support extended to the Office of the UN Youth Envoy".

The Youth Envoy's mission is to promote the engagement of youth and advocate for them across all the four pillars of the UN's work - sustainable development, human rights, peace and security and humanitarian action.