MINSK, 15 December (BelTA) – Chairperson of the Council of the Republic of Belarus' National Assembly Natalya Kochanova met with participants of the 8th edition of the Belarusian-Russian Youth Forum in Minsk on 15 December, BelTA has learned.
“I am sincerely happy to welcome you to the Council of the Republic. I think you have seen the exhibition that we put up this year and got some idea of what the Council of the Republic does. First of all, I want to thank you for this wonderful initiative, which began in 2013. Since then, youth forums have gathered young people of Belarus and Russia,” Natalya Kochanova noted. “The year we had to make some adjustments. The forum has taken place in two stages: the first one - online, the second - in the face-to-face format. This is a wonderful dialogue platform, which allows us to develop new approaches, to consider the issues that are most important for young people of Belarus and Russia today.”
The speaker noted that 2020 was a landmark year as the countries celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory. "These are the historical roots that unite our peoples. We must keep this historical memory in our hearts and pass it on to future generations. After all, we understand that our future depends on the relations among the youth of our countries. You are our future," she said. "We are brotherly nations, we have shared the common history for many years. We have very good ties between peoples and parliamentarians of our countries. And, of course, I want this tradition to continue."
Natalya Kochanova emphasized that this year was not easy for Belarus and Russia. "The pandemic is a challenge for the whole world, for humanity, and, of course, it is not very easy to work in such conditions. But our governments are doing everything to save lives and help people. These are the new realities in which we have to live today," she said.
Despite all the difficulties in the outgoing 2020, the economy is running. We are addressing all social issues related to the support of citizens in order to fulfill all the tasks set before the government during the fifth Belarusian People's Congress. "Now we are gearing up for the sixth Belarusian people's Congress. In this regard, we have set up community liaison offices and dialogue platforms. We meet with young people. In general, youth policy is among the priorities of our state policy,” Natalya Kochanova noted.
The second, face-to-face part of the forum gathered about 60 people - representatives of youth public associations, state authorities, ministries and departments of Belarus and Russia, organizations. The forum discussed the support of youth leaders as a means to strengthen the youth talent pool, cooperation between the two countries in the development of volunteer movement, youth employment and programs to support them. The participants of the forum also met with Belarusian Education Minister Igor Karpenko, Russian Science and Higher Education Minister Valery Falkov, and Chairman of the Belarusian State Committee on Science and Technology Aleksandr Shumilin.
The Belarusian-Russian Youth Forum is an excellent dialogue platform that is especially important now, Chairman of the Belarusian Committee of Youth Associations Pavel Alekso noted. “The youth wants to be heard, wants to express their opinions, especially in the context of the Union State. I hope that this forum will live on. It is significant for the youth of the two countries,” he said. “We are also happy that the forum concluded with such an important event as a meeting with Chairwoman of the Council of the Republic Natalya Kochanova. This is another proof that the government pays a lot of attention to the youth policy. Of course, this is a great responsibility for us,” Pavel Alekso added.
On 14 December, the participants of the forum visited the National Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve Nesvizh and the All Saints Church in Minsk where they met with the participants of the international campaign To the Glory of the Common Victory. On 15 December, they joined the nationwide patriotic project “Memory of the Heart”. The youth laid flowers at the Minsk Hero City Memorial to the sounds of the orchestra of the Minsk Military Commandant's Office. They formed the words ‘Memory of the Heart' [in Russian] with lamps on the steps of the monument and observed a minute of silence to honor the memory of the fallen. The event continued with the roundtable to discuss the preservation of the historical memory and an excursion to the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War.
This year's edition of the forum will also be remembered as one of the few offline events, Chairman of the National Youth Council of Russia Grigory Perushkov pointed out. “The year has been difficult: the pandemic, closed borders. Nevertheless, we were able to get together, and this, perhaps, is our greatest achievement. Every forum results in a resolution, recommendations. This year, the participants also proposed many initiatives: involvement of student brigades in the renovation of the M1 motorway, development of methodological recommendations on work with the youth, joint internships for youth policy specialists, exchange of the best practices in volunteering, and so on,” he stressed. “As you know, we planned to run the joint patriotic campaign Memory Train. Unfortunately, the pandemic made us abandon that plan. By the way, the Memory Train also originated at the youth forum. This year, we have come up with another idea. The next forum will be hosted by Vladivostok – the easternmost city of the Union State. I do not want to disclose too much, but trust me, the meaning behind the slogan ‘Brest-Vladivostok' will be at the heart of the new campaign,” Grigory Perushkov added.
