MOSCOW, May 11. /TASS/. The World Youth Festival will be held from February 29 to March 7, 2024 in Sirius, near Sochi in far southern Russia, Sergey Kiriyenko, first deputy chief of staff of the Presidential Administration, said on Thursday.

"[The festival in Russia] will begin in 2024 on February 29 and will run until March 7; we will be kicking it off almost precisely [10 years from] the closing date of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, so it will fall right on the [Sochi] Olympics’ tenth anniversary," he said during the first meeting of the steering committee for planning and holding the World Youth Festival.

He also suggested holding the festival in the Sirius Federal Territory (a separate territorial unit in far southern Russia that comes under direct federal jurisdiction - TASS) as well as lowering the age limit for participants to enable representatives of the Russian Movement of Children and Youth to take part.

"There are no borders for young people. <...> Despite all of the obstacles that are being created, particularly by unfriendly countries, young people aspire to come to Russia. <...> The year 2024 is special because we hosted the previous festival in 2017, and this six-year period has turned out to be unusually rich with events, both globally and geopolitically," noted Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova.

She specified that, over this period, Russian young people "have shown their best side" because a large number of institutes and means of communication have been created that have helped foster the development of youth and volunteer movements.

"The most important thing is to showcase our country the way that it is - multiethnic and rich with cultural diversity but at the same time united, technologically advanced, and invincible. <...> The youth is our absolute priority. As for organizing [the festival], this is not our first time, so we’ll do it; it will be, as usual, better than anywhere else," Golikova added.

The application campaign for the World Youth Festival will kick off on June 24, said Kseniya Razuvayeva, head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (FAYA).

"We slated the launch of the application campaign for June 24, which is the Day of Youth. On the same day, we will hold the festival’s first major public presentation, to which we will definitely invite all of the steering committee members. I would like to note that the festival will be presented at Russia’s major venues, at 25 federal summer youth forums, and will be featured as part of an exhibit at the Exhibition of National Economic Achievements [in Moscow, in 1991-2014 known as the All-Russian Exhibition Center]," she said at the steering committee meeting on Thursday.

According to her, 10,000 Russian participants and 10,000 foreign visitors will participate in the event. "There will be 10,000 Russian participants, and I would like to note that regional quotas have already been determined with the respective regions, and coordinated with everyone. Also, 10,000 foreign participants [will take part], including students, young professionals, entrepreneurs and leaders of non-profit organizations, diplomats, athletes, cultural figures and others. And, there will be one thousand children: 500 from Russia and 500 foreign kids, who will participate in the special program by the Talent and Success Foundation," Razuvayeva said.

The FAYA press service told TASS that children from the age of 14 can apply to take part in the festival.

The head of the agency noted that about 5,000 volunteers would be recruited for the festival and a special center would be set up for training them.

According to her, the festival will be promoted at international venues as well. "We will have international presentations; 20 countries have already confirmed," the official said, listing the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, China, South Africa and Brazil, among others. "We are launching such international presentations beginning on July 1," she concluded.