On December 20, 2021 the Russian-French Youth Meeting took place online bringing together leaders and representatives of youth public associations from two countries.
Opening the meeting the Chairman of the National Youth Council of Russia Grigory Petushkov noted: “We have been working with French colleagues for a long time, both at the European Youth Forum and in the bilateral format. We have a lot in common. There is a huge interest among Russian youth public organizations in cooperation with their colleagues from France, and the first bilateral forum will be an excellent platform for developing friendly ties and further cooperation.”
“Next year is very important for us, as it has been declared the Year of Youth in the European Union and in France, and we are very interested in developing Franco-Russian youth cooperation. We understand that due to the pandemic opportunities for young people in our countries have been limited, and now we are also interested in developing our cooperation in order to better understand the culture and strengthen partnerships,” Luca Cipres, the representative of the French Youth Forum, said.
At the meeting participants exchanged experiences and discussed potential areas of bilateral youth cooperation.
The meeting was held as part of preparations for the first Russian-French Youth Forum, the decision to hold which was made in October at the first meeting of the Russian-French Youth Exchange Committee. The forum will take place in August-September 2022 in Moscow.
As a result of the meeting priority areas for cooperation between youth public associations of Russia and France in the near future were identified which, among other things, will become the main topics of the first Russian-French Youth Forum:
- youth cooperation in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,
- development of youth relations between partner cities of Russia and France,
- development of youth sports and sports volunteering.
The meeting was organized by MIREA – Russian Technological University, the National Youth Council of Russia and the French Youth Forum with the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs of the French Republic.
Reference:
Russian-French youth cooperation is carried out in accordance with the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the French Republic on the development of youth exchanges dated September 20, 2008 (entered into force on May 1, 2017).
