MINSK, 26 September (BelTA) – Belarusian Education Minister Igor Karpenko will take part in an international ministerial meeting of the heads of government bodies and agencies responsible for youth policy implementation in Moscow on 12-13 October, BelTA learned from Tatyana Simanovskaya, Deputy Head of the Youth Affairs Department of Belarus' Education Ministry, on 26 September.
The meeting in Moscow will take place ahead of the World Festival of Youth and Students in Sochi. Igor Karpenko will lead the Belarusian delegation which will comprise young workers and students representing different public associations such as the Belarusian national youth union BRSM, the League of Youth Voluntary Service, the Belarusian Republican Scout Association, and the Belarusian Association of UNESCO Clubs. The delegation will include young Belarusians, who are workers and university students, all in all, 300 people. Reporters and athletes, participants and winners of artistic and intellectual contests will be among them as well. Sochi will also welcome veterans of the festival movement, those, who took part in the WFYS 1997 in Cuba and the WFYS 2005 in Venezuela.
The festival will feature a large-scale exhibition which will display the Belarusian achievements in different fields such as manufacturing sector, culture and so on. A separate exposition will be dedicated to the Belarusian education system. Apart from that, Belarus will be presented as the country to host the 2019 European Games and the ice hockey world championship that Belarus and Latvia will host in 2021. Belarus' tourism potential will be in focus as well as support for young Belarusians, participation of young Belarusians in public life.
Young Belarusians are expected to take an active part in various events during the WFYS 2017 such as discussions, cultural events, all kinds of entertainment, sport events, and so on. Every day will be traditionally dedicated to one of the macro regions of the planet such as America, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania, Europe, and Russia as the host country. Peculiarities and key spheres of each macro region will be highlighted. Apart from that, each day will be assigned a cross-cutting theme that will bring together panel discussions, conferences, and seminars. The topics will include cultural interaction, international security, education, science and environment, information technologies. Participants are expected to discuss the employment of young people, environmental problems, and other things. The program has been put together bearing in mind the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The 19th World Festival of Youth and Students (WFYS) is expected to become the largest event in the sphere of international youth interaction. Over 20,000 people from 150 countries are expected to attend the festival. A chamomile with petals of different colors has been chosen as the festival's symbol. It represents the continuity of traditions, connections that span generations, peace and unity of the entire international community. Colored pixels play a major part as a token of unity of all the young people in the world in the age of information technologies. The festival is meant to consolidate young people of the world, encourage interethnic and intercultural cooperation.
