MOSCOW, January 25, 23:45 /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian delegation to the Y8 Russia 2014 has been formed and its line-up was announced on Saturday, January 25.
The competitive selection among undergraduates, postgraduate students and recent graduates from the Russian universities under the age of 25 years was launched in Russia on December 1, 2013 and included three stages.
During the first stage the participants presented their contest essays in English and two-minute video-resume. The second stage included online interviews of 100 winners, after which 25 finalists were selected. The third stage (on-site) of the competitive selection of the Russian delegation for the Y8 Summit Russia 2014 took place during the Gaidar Forum in Moscow, January 15-18, 2014. During the meeting the selection delegates have developed and presented to the public the position on the Y8 Russia’s agenda.
The young delegates presented proposals covering four topics from the G8 Summit agenda: internationals security, assistance to international development, energy and climate, and information security.
They believe that the main problems facing the international community now are the conflict in Syria, the situation in Afghanistan and the spread of terrorism around the world.
Among the twenty five finalists of the competition, five were selected to represent Russia at the Y8 Summit Russia 2014. These are
- Darya Zvenigorodskaya (Moscow) - leader of the Russian delegation;
- Anton Tugushev (Vladivostok) is leading the Working Group on International Security;
- Martin Martinov (Moscow) is leading the Working Group on Informational Security and Availability;
- Natalia Chernyshova (Krasnodar) is leading the Working Group on International Development Cooperation; and
- Ivan Meshkov (Moscow) is leading the Working Group on Energy Security and Climate Change.
“In the nearest future, five Russian delegates will present the results of the joint work of all finalists to the Russian G8 Sherpa Alexei Kvasov and the management of the relevant agencies. The first event of the Y8 will be the meeting of delegation leaders during the Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum and will focus on exchanging views before starting the online discussions on a special online platform,” Chair of the Y8 Russia 2014 Roman Chukov said.
The work of all the delegates of the Y8 Summit Russia 2014 will begin on March 1 and will last for two months. Young diplomats will work out a draft of the final communique, which will be finalized directly at the Y8 Summit in four working groups, and then adopted by the votes of leaders of delegations.
The Y8 Russia 2014 will be held in the middle of May in Moscow and will take 46 representatives of the G8 countries and the European Union, selected with the help of partner organisation - International Diplomatic Engagement Association (IDEA) and with the support of Sherpa offices of G8 and the EU.
The first Y8 summit took place during Russia’s presidency in the Group of Eight in 2006 and was followed by similar meetings in the subsequent years. This year, it will be attended by delegations from the G8 and EU countries - 45 people all in all. They will adopt a declaration to be submitted to the G8 Sherpas.
Since 2006, the Y8 has become an official event of the Russian presidency in the Group as the youth format of the G8. Every year, experts select five most talented young people from among students and university graduates to present Russia’s position in the Y8, which this time will to be held in May 2014, where young people from the G8 countries and the European Union will try to lobby their ideas. The selected ones will then be submitted to the G8 Sherpas.
Speaking to the finalists on January 15, Kvasov said they were facing “the enormous and real task” of stating the agenda. “Based on your experience and understanding of life, you have to state something in a very concise way,” he said.
“We would like this to match our presidency’s priorities,” he said. “Our task is to confirm to ourselves and the world one more time that young people are a part of the world, we have common problems and that the existing disagreements are just minor nuances,” the Sherpa said.
He stressed the importance of the Y8 because young people “are free of stereotypes.”
The Group of Eight (G8) is an unofficial forum of the world's major economies (Russia, the United States, Great Britain, France, Japan, Germany, Canada, and Italy, with the participation of the EU Leaders) designed to coordinate approaches to the most pressing issues of global affairs.
The G8 does not operate as an international organisation, not being based on an international treaty or having a charter or permanent secretariat. The decisions taken by the G8 are non-binding political commitments of the member states to follow the agreed logic of action in addressing specific issues.
The host country of the G8 annual summit is presiding over the forum throughout the year, coordinating the G8's operating activities. The rotation of the G8 Presidency starts with France (last presidency in 2011), followed by the U.S., the UK, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Canada. The EU does not host summits and cannot assume presidency.
Youth 8 summits (Y8), G8 Parliament Speakers’ meetings (Parliamentary 8), heads of academies of sciences, as well as representatives of the business community (Business 8) and civil society (Civil 8) are held within the G8 framework.
Russia has taken over the presidency in the Group of Eight from January 1, 2014. The main event of its presidency - the G8 summit - will be held in Sochi on June 4-5.
More than one hundred events will be held during Russia’s G8 Presidency in 2014.