On 11 December in Kazan, as part of the gala event to mark the 30th anniversary of the law “On Youth and State Youth Policy in the Republic of Tatarstan”, the International SCO and BRICS Young Leaders Award was presented. The event, held at the IT Park named after Bashir Rameev, was attended by distinguished guests, honored workers of state youth policy, as well as representatives of relevant institutions and youth organizations.
The event started with greetings and congratulations of Leyla Fazleeva, deputy prime minister of the Republic of Tatarstan. She also thanked leaders of public youth associations and heads of the infrastructure of state youth policy of the Republic of Tatarstan for their creative and patient labor, especially noting the merits of veterans who stood at the origins of the law on youth.
In his greetings to the participants of the event Chairman of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan Yuri Kamaltynov highlighted that the law on youth had formed a powerful framework on the basis of which not only the structure of youth organizations and state authorities engaged in youth policy, but also the system of work with youth in general was built.
In his address to the participants of the event, Marat Bariev, chairman of the State Committee for Children and Youth Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan, stated that the adoption of the law made it possible to systematize and carry out significant work in the field of protecting the interests of young people and creating conditions for their self-realization. Marat Bariev, who was the first minister of youth and sports of the Republic of Tatarstan in the 1990s, spoke about the difficult problems of that period in the sphere of youth policy of the republic, which the adoption of the law was aimed at solving.
Rinat Sadykov, minister for youth affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan, who repeatedly took the stage to present gifts and grants to the participants of the event, called the human resource of the republic its undoubted main potential. Rinat Sadykov asked honored veterans of youth policy to rise from their seats so that the audience could applaud the respected figures.
Damir Fattakhov, deputy head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, co-chairman of the Russian Schoolchildren Movement, in his video address to the participants of the event expressed gratitude for the opportunities that the republic’s youth policy had created in the difficult 1990s. Today the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, relying on the laws and values of older comrades, helps colleagues across Russia to follow the path that Tatarstan started 30 years ago.
Timur Suleymanov, head of the Tatarstan branch of “Movement of the First”, assistant to Rais of the Republic of Tatarstan, reminded the participants of the event about the recent meeting in Kazan of youth ministers from the countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Timur Suleymanov called that event an unconditional international recognition of the results of Tatarstan’s youth policy.
Stanislav Korolev, director of the SCO National Centre for Public Diplomacy in Russia, deputy secretary general of the Assembly of Peoples of Eurasia, and Tatiana Seliverstova, director of the TOP100 BRICS Entrepreneurs International Award and the BRICS+ International Business Forum, were invited to the stage to award SCO and BRICS young leaders. Stanislav Korolev in his address noted that the 30th anniversary of the law on youth does not show the results of the work done, but demonstrates the basis that made this impressive work possible. Tatiana Seliverstova thanked and praised the nominees and winners of the Young Leaders Award and wished Tatarstan to expand its international partnerships.
Dilovar Boboev from Tajikistan and Yu Zhen from China were the best in the Public Diplomacy Project of the Year nomination. Dilovar Boboev, head of the Youth Society of Students from Tajikistan in the Russian Federation and a member of the SCO Youth Council, organized the Friendship of Peoples International Youth Forum. Yu Zhen is the chairman of the Qingshe Tourism Development Corporation of Heilongjiang Province. Thanks to Yu Zhen and his youth exchange project, thousands of teachers, schoolchildren and students from China and Russia gained the opportunity to get to know each other’s cultures best. The project has been realized for 8 times already and is gaining momentum.
The winners in the Social Entrepreneur of the Year nomination were Nursultan Zhusipbaev from Kazakhstan and Muhammad Talal Ejaz from Pakistan. Nursultan organized Farabi free private school for talented children from low-income families and implemented other socially oriented projects, such as an annual table tennis tournament and Coworking Youth Centre. Muhammad Talal Ejaz is the CEO of the Sabzland Company. He founded an online platform through which over 8000 Pakistani farmers now sell directly to consumers. The platform improves supply chain efficiency and helps address food waste.
Miss Tatarstan 2014 and TV presenter Dinara Vurgaft, Head of the Youth Academy under the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovations of the Republic of Uzbekistan Akbarbon Sabirkhonov, as well as Vice President of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan Vadim Kamenko took the stage to present the next block of SCO and BRICS Young Leaders Award in the following categories: “Media Influencer of the Year”, “Eco-Initiative of the Year” and “Researcher of the Year”.
Jaloliddin Mirzaev from Uzbekistan and Zabelo Hlabisa from Sauth Africa became media influencers of the year. Jaloliddin actively develops his personal blog and is the creator of many diverse media, such as SayohaTV travel project and Hashtag news project. In BIZ-TV, a platform for Uzbeks from all over the world to communicate with each other, he works as editor-in-chief. Zabelo Hlabisa is one of the top bloggers of South Africa. Having left behind her modeling past, she is now developing her Born 2 Model project and doing charity work. She is an ambassador of The Joburg Child Welfare, a non-profit organization supporting children in difficult circumstances.
Omar Dairov from Kyrgyzstan and Rohit Kumar from India became the winners in the Eco-Initiative of the Year category. Omar Dairov leads the Students of Kyrgyzstan for Green Economy Organization. He organized the first UN youth conference on climate change in Kyrgyzstan, Local Conference of Youth, and Three Wales inclusive youth conference. He is also engaged in popularization of ecological lifestyle. Rohit Kumar is one of India’s most prominent eco-activists and head of the Shwarmani Youth Association. Rohit gives lectures on sustainable development and ecology, and leads projects on separate waste collection.
Muhammadreza Baradan Motieh from Iran and Rustam Lukmanov from Russia became researchers of the year. Muhammadreza Baradan Motieh is a researcher at the Faculty of Art and Architecture, Tarbiat Modares University (Tehran, Iran). He is currently working on improving the efficiency of urban green spaces using computer modeling and artificial intelligence (AI). Rustam Lukmanov is an associate professor at the AI Institute of Innopolis University, PhD in Physics and Mathematics. He has developed new models for analyzing the chemical composition of substances, which has improved the performance of research tools. Apart from scientific activities, Rustam teaches machine learning courses.
The event also included a ceremony of presenting government awards to representatives of the industry, awarding the winners of the grant competition among all municipal youth policy institutions, and summarizing the results of the Professional Skills Competition among Young Innovator and Inventor of the Republic of Tatarstan youth policy workers. Between the award ceremonies, the guests were entertained by the participants of the Constellation-Yoldyzlyk open TV youth festival of variety art of the Republic of Tatarstan, who gave musical and dance performances.
The project is implemented with grant support from the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh).
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Photo: Evg Klimov/Unsplash