MOSCOW, November 7. /TASS/. More than 30,000 young people aged 14-18 have applied to take part in the World Youth Festival, which will be held on March 1-7, 2024 in the Sirius federal territory in far southern Russia.

"We are preparing for the World Youth Festival. For the first time in the history of the festival, [adolescents] will take part in it. We will have a thousand [teenagers]: 500 foreigners and 500 Russian citizens. Now we already have more than 30,000 applications; what incredible interest," Grigory Gurov, board chairman of the "Movement of the First" Russian Children’s and Youth Movement said at a meeting of the parliamentary upper house Federation Council Committee on Science, Education and Culture.

According to Gurov, applications are being received from both friendly and unfriendly countries. "We thought that some would be afraid to come, but there is nothing of the sort. There are no differences among the youth," Gurov pointed out.

Earlier, Sergey Kiriyenko, first deputy chief of staff of the Russian Presidential Administration, said that the World Youth Festival’s organizers on the whole had received more than 160,000 applications from more than 180 countries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin decreed that the World Youth Festival be held in 2024. It will be attended by 20,000 people (including 1,000 teenagers aged 14-18), who will be selected after completing competitive assignments. The festival will be held in the federal territory of Sirius on March 1-7, 2024. The regional program will take place on March 10-17, 2024, during which participants will visit 30 cities across Russia.