News

More than 200 young meeting attendees from the Union countries, the Observer States at the EAEU and third countries represented various youth groups: entrepreneurs, students, scientists, journalists, bloggers, athletes, creative young people, and etc.

The discussion was moderated by Daniyar Turusbekov, Director of the Organizational Support and Protocol Department of the Eurasian Economic Commission and Chairman of the EEC Youth Council, and Stanislav Surovtsev, Vice-Rector of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

Opening the session, Daniyar Turusbekov noted that the youth were a numerous social group, which, amounted, at a rough estimate, to 15-20% of the EAEU population, and it is obvious that it had special specific requests to contribute to economic processes of the Eurasian integration. 

"As the integration strengthens, the issues of international youth interaction assume ever greater importance", Daniyar Turusbekov said.

The discussion context was determined by the initiative put forward by Sadyr Japarov, Chairman of the SEEC and President of the Kyrgyz Republic, on establishing and annual holding of the EAEU Youth Forum "to massively spread the Eurasian ideology in our minds, including the young generation’s consciousness". The session speakers voiced their absolute support and willingness to contribute to implementing the initiative. For example, Pavel Abramov, Deputy Head of the Russian Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, stated that the Agency would take an active hand and provide the required support, including methodological, in holding the event.

Discussing the challenges and objectives of the EAEU Member States’ youth agenda, Soyuzbek Nadyrbekov, Deputy Minister of Culture, Information, Sports and Youth Policy of the Kyrgyz Republic, shared primary objectives of youth cooperation between the participating States and the Union's Observer States.

"The primary objectives include forming a proactive attitude in young people and engagement in the public, political, social and economic life of their countries and interstate cooperation. The young generation should be informed about potential development opportunities in the EAEU countries. It is important to support scientific, creative and business activity, efficiently develop and use the innovation potential of young people, create a working model of interaction between youth public associations and organizations of the Union countries", the Deputy Minister of Culture of Kyrgyzstan noted.

The meeting submitted proposals to create new formats to support the youth participation in the processes of the EAEU functioning. For example, Nurdoolot Bazarbaev, Deputy Minister of Labor, Social Security and Migration of the Kyrgyz Republic, proposed to establish a Youth Initiatives Support Fund aimed at creating a mechanism for targeted assistance to youth business and public projects.

Many speakers reported on the need to strengthen cooperation in education and research as one of the most active and dynamically developing areas of integration. In particular, Artur Martirosyan, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia, proposed to address the matter of creating a single digital education platform within the EAEU, as well as to hold joint competitions of scientific works of the Member States’ young researchers. Aleksey Ermakov, Chairman of the Council of Young Scientists at the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus, recommended strengthening academic mobility within the EAEU, primarily the mobility of young scientists and teachers with due regard to the best global experience. Valery Smirnov, Deputy Director of the RANEPA Institute of Law and National Security (ILNS) under the President of the Russian Federation, put forward the initiative to create the Eurasian Students’ Assembly as one of the steps towards the integration of the Union's youth community. Denis Berdakov, Head of the Elchi Institute of Socio-Political Research, called upon for preserving and strengthening the Eurasian common humanitarian space.

Officials of the largest youth associations of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan — Tokhtar Bolysov, Executive Director of the Youth Congress of Kazakhstan, and Askar Shaikidinov, Chairman of the Youth Congress of Kyrgyzstan under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic, informed on the more active involvement of youth organizations in the processes of the EAEU functioning. Raphael Poghosyan, Chairman of the Russian-Armenian Youth Union, called upon for active interaction between the EEC Youth Council and the Member States’ youth organizations on a systematic basis.

An efficient ecosystem of support for youth entrepreneurship in the EAEU space was the topic of the speech given by Eduard Omarov, Vice-President of the All-Russian Non-governmental Organization of Small and Medium Business "Opora Russia", and Gulbarchin Suyunova Executive Director of the Kyrgyz public organization of students and young business leaders Enactus. According to Eduard Omarov, we should take measures of state and interstate support for young businessmen at the start, as well as intensify efforts on occupational orientation and development of "career paths" of young specialists.

In the field of youth diplomacy, a mention was made of the role of youth in spreading the EAEU "soft power". Konstantin Kolpakov, Chairman of the Council of Young Diplomats of the MFA of Russia, invited young people to contribute to developing relations with international integration associations, primarily the EAEU, the BRICS, the SCO and the ASEAN. Victoria Karslieva, Executive Director of the A.M. Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund, proposed to create a single youth platform to exchange experience, inform and involve young people in expert and youth events being held in the Union countries.

The meeting was ended with eloquent speeches of representatives of the EAEU countries’ creative youth and the entertainment industry. Konstantin Sidorkov, Director of VK Music and Event Projects, informed on the VK Fest, Russia's largest urban open-air, as well as possibilities for implementing youth public and business initiatives on the VK platform. Levon Shaginyan, Media Producer and Celebrity Marketing Specialist, paid attention to the main media trends among young people. Jan Voinov, Director of the Let's Dance Academy, called upon for creating the Eurasian platform for the dance industry.

Following the discussion, the speakers and attendees unanimously endorsed the idea to create and annually hold the Youth Forum, noting the expediency and relevance of this initiative. According to the session attendees, forming a separate youth forum platform will create conditions for systematic access of young people to the Eurasian agenda, will encourage students and young experts to explore the Eurasian integration and develop the Union’s youth agenda as a whole. Besides, it was noted that the EAEU Youth Forum would enable representatives of youth professional associations to implement joint projects with integration potential (education, expert and business projects, projects in the field of entertainment, journalism and state administration, etc.).