Kazan Global Youth Summit 2022: Participants Stress Importance of Intercultural Dialogue

The event is attended by delegations from Africa, the Middle East, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Southeast Asia, who all came to Russia to discuss issues facing the younger generation, ranging from health to culture and youth representation in governance.

Over 300 participants from 60 countries gathered in the Russian city of Kazan on August 27-30 to attend the Global Youth Summit 2022. Participants discussed youth migration, well-being and mental health, as well as intercultural dialogue on the first day of the event.

The summit started with a prayer, as Mufti Kamil Hazrat Samigullin, who is the head of the Muslim Board of the Republic of Tatarstan, gave the presentation of the Holy Quran.

Speaking at the summit's first session, Bilal Erdogan, the resident of the Istanbul-based World Ethnosport Confederation, stressed the importance of intercultural dialogue for the younger generation, because it is in charge of preserving cultural heritage. He praised the celebration of the 1100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam in Volga Bulgaria.

However, the organizers stressed that the summit's agenda is not only based on religious issues.

“We are planning to discuss the issues of health – mental health and well-being, the topics of youth migration, volunteer movement, we are planning to explore digital trends among youth,” Timur Suleymanov, Tatarstan’s youth affairs minister told Sputnik.

Mohamed Yongawo, Ambassador of Sierra Leone to Russia

© Sputnik / Denis Bolotsky

“On each of these issues we will be looking for points of common interest between member countries, and to do that we are planning to meet in several groups – the Middle East, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the African nations.”

Mohamed Yongawo, the ambassador of the Republic of Sierra Leone to Russia, said that the summit addresses youth migration, an issue that is of utter importance for his nation.

“Youths are tempted to travel now very widely across nations and they need to be respected no matter where they go, because in most of [the] times the youths are now responsible for the issues that happen on the ground in countries… So the youths are to be respected. And besides, if we don't respect the youths, our old age is going to be very difficult because they will be looking after us tomorrow.”

On Monday, delegates are planning to discuss youth entrepreneurship and the role of young people in the global agenda. The summit will conclude its work on August 30.

The Kazan Global Youth Summit is running in parallel with another international event hosted by the Tatarstan capital – the V Global Forum of Young Diplomats, with emissaries from 42 nations discussing digital diplomacy, cyber-security, and various aspects of the multipolar world order.