Development of international youth cooperation and public diplomacy in the CIS space, the implementation of joint projects and the connection to them of compatriots living abroad - an educational seminar entitled “The Public Diplomatic Corps of the States Parties to the CIS”, organized by the National Council of Youth and Children's Associations of Russia, was devoted to this topic. The PDC training session was being held in Moscow from December 21 to 25, and gathered representatives from Russia, Spain, Italy, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Ukraine, Tajikistan, and Pridnestrovie on its site.
Youth cooperation
This educational seminar has already become the ninth in a row, as noted, welcoming the participants, Grigory Petushkov, the chairman of the Council on Youth Affairs of the CIS Member States, the head of the National Council of Youth and Children's Associations of Russia.
“Each such corps comes down to achieving some results. As social activists, we need you with your ideas and projects that we will be able to implement in the CIS space next year. Many things no longer work on old principles” - Grigory Petushkov said.
Dozens of public organizations, foundations and Russian federal agencies are ready to help bring these ideas to life. Representatives of the largest of them – A.M. Gorchakov Foundation for Support of Public Diplomacy, Rossotrudnichestvo, and also Russkiy Mir Foundation —told the seminar participants in detail about their programs and answered numerous questions. A forum member from Pridnestrovie and our colleague Irina Iordanova told that one of them concerned how to involve young people from unrecognized or partially recognized by the international community states in the framework of the CIS.
“Educational seminar guests were very pleased to see representatives from our republic and noted that many programs are being implemented in Tiraspol and, moreover, successfully. For example, in Pridnestrovie, the Russian center of Russkiy Mir Foundation has long been operating on the basis of the State University, and the Contact Center of Rossotrudnichestvo will soon open. Dozens of humanitarian projects are also being implemented through the federal agency, and young Pridnestrovians actively participate in competitions, contests and educational programs. Our children become participants in the programs of A.M. Gorchakov Foundation for Support of Public Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Rosmolodezh” -Irina Iordanova noted.
According to her, all those programs, forums and seminars allow Pridnestrovians to declare themselves and their state, and become full participants in all international processes in the field of youth policy.
Expert meetings and practical classes
The program of the Public Diplomatic Corps of the States Parties to the CIS included discussions with Oleg Barabanov, program director of the Valdai International Discussion Club, a practical lesson with the doctor of historical sciences, leading research associate of the Center for the Study, Preservation and Development of Historical and Cultural Territories of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies Tamara Guzenkova.
Young social activists talked about how to build an intercultural dialogue in the CIS space with the adviser on international affairs of the chairman of the National Council of Youth and Children's Associations of Russia Lukyana Suvorova.
And within the framework of the expert meeting with the Deputy Director of the Department of European Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Ilya Subbotin, the seminar participants talked about the cooperation of the CIS countries with European states and structures.
The seminar ended with a presentation by the participants of their proposals to the CIS International Youth Cooperation Strategy for 2021-2030 to the Secretariat of the Council on Youth Affairs of the CIS representatives. All developments the organizers of the event promised to analyze and, as they become relevant, they should be included in the basic document. Work within the framework of the Public Diplomatic Corps to representatives from each country is yet to come in the new, 2019 year.
The Public Diplomatic Corps has been held in Moscow since 2009. During this period, more than 450 youth leaders from 30 countries of the world participated in the seminar.
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was established in December 1991. In the adopted declaration, the participants of the Commonwealth claimed their interaction on the basis of sovereign equality.
Officially, there are 9 states in the CIS for 2018: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Another 2 are in the status of countries that have not signed the contract. This is an associate member of Turkmenistan and Ukraine, which has not signed the contract. From December 1993 to August 18, 2009, Georgia was also part of the CIS.
