KAZAN – The working group for the preparation of the International Youth Forum inKazan has completed its work in Strasbourg. The 5-day talks resulted in the Kazan 2013 Organizing Committee winning support of the Council of Europe’s members.
The official delegation of Kazan 2013 in the talks with the Council of Europe consisted of Deputy Minister of Youth, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Tatarstan Andrey Kondratyev, Chairman of the National Council of Youth and Children Associations of Russia Denis Barinov, Chief of Staff of the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate Larisa Sulima, pro-rectors of Kazan’s higher education institutions, members of the Tatarstan Student League and Creative Youth Academy of the Republic of Tatarstan.
Apart from active negotiations with the Council of Europe’s Directorate of Youth and Sport, the delegates met with Hanjo Schild, Coordinator of the Youth Partnership joint program between the Council of Europe and the European Union. In the course of the meeting Schild admitted thatKazanwas the focus of interest for European organizations. And one of the most important tasks in Hanjo Schild’s work is to encourage young people to get actively involved in political activities. Another challenge for the European Parliament is an intercultural exchange where Tatarstan’s experience could be valuable for European politicians. Keeping in mind Kazan’s experience of hosting large-scale European events aimed at developing tolerance and promoting multinational culture among youth, Hanjo Schild expressed his confidence that the upcoming Universiade will provide another important step towards strengthening Kazan’s status as a European centre of intercultural dialogue among youth.
Besides, being a huge sports fan, the CoE-EU Youth Partnership coordinator intends to visitKazanto see a Rubin FC match. He expresses his love for sports through sports journalism. Hanjo Schild is a respected European sports expert and founder of a sports paper.
The Kazan 2013 delegates also met with Arkady Sytin, Head of the Country Special Programs and Resource Mobilization Department of the Council of Europe.
«Youth must play a key role in developing an all-European dialogue, strengthening democratic institutions and promoting global values», he stressed. «It is this principle that must become the basis for an organizational preparation of the International Youth Forum in 2012. At the same time sport takes a special place in development of young people as of most progressive part of the society. However, conditions have to be created to turn sports into a source of energy and health, but not of aggression. In this regard, we highly appreciate the activities in the preparation for the 2013 Summer Universiade inKazan, renewal of sporting infrastructure, as well as efforts to build positive attitude towards physical education.»
A meeting with Ralf René Weingärtner, Director of Human Rights and Non-Discrimination of the Council of Europe, became one of the most significant events for the Kazan 2013 delegates. Mr. Weingärtner was one of the first European politicians that had supportedKazan’s bid to host the 2013 World University Summer Games. That’s why it was quite logical that he was offered to become a Kazan 2013 Ambassador. The European politician promised to render all possible assistance during the preparation for the Games and expressed confidence that the Universiade inKazanwill become a true festival of youth, sports and peoples’ friendship.
(Source: Media Department of Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate)
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