On 21 ̵ 24 October the city of Kazan hosted the 5th BRICS Young Diplomats Forum.
The event organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the Council of Young Diplomats of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Ministry for Youth Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan and the Academy of Youth Diplomacy was attended by delegates from the BRICS countries’ foreign ministries, government agencies and academic and expert communities.
Sergei Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, sent a video address to the participants. Welcoming messages on behalf of Andrei Krutskikh, Special Presidential Representative for international cooperation in information security and Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry Department of International Information Security, Alexander Bugayev, Head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, and Farid Mukhametshin, Chairman of the State Council of Tatarstan, were also read out to the inaugural session participants. Gazinur Bakirov, Aide to the President of the Republic of Tatarstan, and Konstantin Kolpakov, Chairman of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Young Diplomats Council, spoke at the opening ceremony.
“It is symbolic that this year’s venue is the capital of Tatarstan, Kazan, one of the oldest cities in Russia, where representatives of different ethnic and religious backgrounds live together in harmony. This is consonant with the BRICS concept about uniting various geographic regions and various cultural and civilizational landscapes. It is in diversity that the strength of our unity shows,” Sergey Lavrov pointed out in his address.
The main themes of the 5th Forum were the role of young professionals in strengthening diplomatic ties within the framework of the horizontal diplomacy concept, key pillars and priorities of BRICS cooperation during Russia’s Chairmanship in 2020, the digitalization of diplomatic work, the 75th of Victory in World War II and the 75th anniversary of the UN.
The Forum’s plenary sessions were attended by Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Alexander Yakovenko, Rector of the Foreign Ministry Diplomatic Academy, Steven Seagal, Special Representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry for Russia-US Humanitarian Links, State Duma representatives Irek Zinnurov and Yaroslav Nilov, Roman Shaykhutdinov, Deputy Prime Minister of Tatarstan, members of Tatarstan’s administration and Russian youth organisations, several prominent experts and, of course, young diplomats from the BRICS countries, including from the Russian Foreign Ministry and the BRICS countries’ representationsin Russia.
Diplomats also visited Russia’s youngest innovation city, Innopolis, where they held working sessions in the Popov Administrative and Business Centre and roundtable discussions with Innopolis University students and faculty.