We, the participants of the Fifth International Forum
of Young Politicians of the North-West Russia and the Nordic Countries,
have met in the city of Petrozavodsk (the Republic of Karelia, the
Russian Federation) on April 24-26, 2013 to discuss the challenges
of the youth in the sphere of education and employment, participation
in the social, economic and political life of the society.
Noting the importance of conducting the Forum that
provides young politicians with the opportunity to discuss and work
out various approaches to solving of the most urgent problems, and
taking into account the eagerness of young people to participate
in the social and political processes and to fulfill themselves,
we urge the representatives of Russia and the Nordic countries to
pay special attention to challenges regarding the youth in our region.
Cross-border youth cooperation is important. Non-formal
education, cultural understanding, good language skills and innovation
are vital to secure the future cooperation between the Nordic countries
and North-West Russia.
In order to join efforts
for the effective implementation of youth policy and development
of youth parliamentarism:
the contact between the young politicians of
the North-West Russia and the Nordic countries is important and
we welcome even more dialogue;
we consider the participation of young people
of the regions in international youth projects aimed at healthy
lifestyle promotion and prevention of negative processes among young
people (drug addiction, alcoholism, game addiction) necessary;
we consider it important to create a good environment
for the participation of youth in social, political and economic
life of their countries at the local, regional and national levels,
contributing to the development of the system of youth advisory
and consultative bodies at all levels;
Further, we consider it important to raise awareness
among young people of their civic and political human rights, such
as freedom of speech, freedom of assembly etc. and to encourage young
people to make use of these rights, and take active part in political
processes, such as voting and seeking election to local, regional
as well as national parliaments.
we urge all the parties involved to pay attention to
the implementation of youth initiatives and support the desire of
young generation to be active members of the society, to encourage
all young people to join youth organizations and authorities;
for development of youth cooperation in the field
of exchange of cultural, scientific, public relations we suggest
simplifying the visa regime by visa-free regime;
In the sphere of education and employment:
Taking into account the general trend of decrease
of the number of people of working age, we acknowledge the significance
of the broad access of young people to education and vocational
training, as well as the importance of youth employment assistance
at the national level which includes:
career guidance;
conduction of employment and training fairs;
vocational training, retraining and qualification development
for the people in need of employment;
increasing the competitiveness of young
people (graduates of the institutions of basic, secondary vocational
education and higher education) on the job market;
strengthening practical training as an
integrate part of education, in order to improve the employment
possibilities for recently graduated persons.
encouraging employers to hire graduates
without any employment experience;
elimination of the imbalance between the
professions and qualification of the graduates and the employers’
demands;
creation and development of the small-scale business
assistance system, youth entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship
assistance systems, contributing to the exchange of experience in
the sphere of youth entrepreneurship development;
we pay attention to the necessity of developing labor
standards from the school age, supporting and implementing youth
creative skills, contributing to the self-fulfillment of young people;
we emphasize the necessity to develop the system
of supporting research aimed at solving social, economic and cultural
problems of the region;
we suggest starting to work on the creation
of the international working teams as one of the mechanisms of international
cooperation and acquisition of work skills.
In the sphere of supporting
the diversity of the cultures and the unique cultural heritage of
the North (S)
We consider it important to support cultural
diversity and to invest in the youth of the indigenous peoples and
cultural communities (S) of the North-West Russia and the Nordic
countries, contributing to a higher degree of self-determination,
professional activity and employment, facilitating youth participation
in social and political life.
We consider it important to form principles
of preservation of all (UNR) languages, attract the attention of
young people to the culture of indigenous peoples and other cultural
communities, and stimulate the learning of authentic traditional
folk culture among young people.
We consider international outlook to be important,
in order to create learning and understanding of cultural diversities
between different ethnic groups. Therefore, we support the proposals
to conduct activities in the sphere of international dialogue between
the Russian Federation and the Nordic countries.
We consider it necessary to continue the work
of supporting teachers of indigenous languages, including assisting
them in their professional growth.
We recommend taking into consideration new forms
of supporting indigenous peoples and cultural communities, to exchange
experiences and strengthen interregional dialogue in order to support
cultural diversity and unique cultural heritage of the North.