Involving Young People in the EAEU Activities and Processes

The youth agenda in the context of Eurasian integration sounds particularly important because the future and success of our integration association largely depends on the younger generation. And the way in which the union’s member states structure their work with young people today directly affects the course of the integration process and shapes the future image of our association — Daniyar Turusbekov, Director, Organizational Support and Protocol Department, Eurasian Economic Commission.

Young people have a special mission today. We need to become a provider of integration processes throughout the Eurasian space. Undoubtedly, all innovations and progressive ideas are created by young people today. And our own life depends on our behaviour, our choices, and our life plans — Soyuzbek Nadyrbekov, Deputy Minister of Culture, Information, Sports and Youth Policy of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Considering that integration processes are rapidly moving and developing, of course the involvement of young people is crucial. New ideas, new views, and unconventional approaches to resolving issues are very important and interesting for us — Julia Nesterchuk, Director of the Department for Economic Cooperation with the CIS Countries, Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

Of course, our job is to establish the Eurasian space as a place on our planet in which our citizens of the union’s member states and our young people can comfortably develop, study, work, and travel. And indeed, in this regard, we have probably only outlined the main focuses in the Strategy 2025, not including the youth agenda as a separate focus, but social and humanitarian issues – education, tourism, and healthcare – in the Strategy 2025. To this end, it would be interesting, of course, to discuss these issues first and prepare proposals at your platform, at the site of the youth council — Julia Nesterchuk, Director of the Department for Economic Cooperation with the CIS Countries, Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

In order for young people to be able to prove their mettle in Eurasian integration, they need to understand what it is. Young people should understand the specifics of the focus and scale of Eurasian integration — Soyuzbek Nadyrbekov, Deputy Minister of Culture, Information, Sports and Youth Policy of the Kyrgyz Republic.

In general, the EAEU is getting older and aging rather quickly. Over the past 20 years, the percentage of young people has declined in all countries, especially in the Russian Federation. Nevertheless, though, young people are an absolutely key component. The following figure is an example of this – by 2025 more than half of all voters in the Russian Federation will be people who were born in 1982 or later — Evgeny Vinokurov, Chief Economist, Eurasian Development Bank (EDB).

Joint infrastructure – transport, electricity, oil and gas – will not develop if there is no Eurasian integration. The engineering of these processes and cross-border infrastructure is aging. It will have to change in the next decade. The younger generation just needs to come in and speak the same language and maintain the same standards. So the most important priority in such a programme is the cross-border mobility of future engineers – transport workers, electric power engineers, and to a lesser extent oil and gas workers because there is more money there — Evgeny Vinokurov, Chief Economist, Eurasian Development Bank (EDB).

Our generation is the one that has to live with the legacy that is taking shape today. To some extent, we will inherit the crisis and whirlwind in the system of international coordinates and will eventually have to work with it. So the sooner we become participants and, to some extent, implementers of the foreign policy interests of our countries, the better we will be able to influence the international agenda in the future — Aghasaryan Areg, First Deputy Chairman, Council of Young Diplomats of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

As part of the national long-term programme to promote youth employment until 2030, Rosmolodezh [the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs] is now, together with the Ministry of Economics, implementing a large project called the All-Russian Programme to Support Youth Entrepreneurship. It involves both an educational function for young people who would like to develop their business, their projects, and a rather large front of work, as well as the creation of a club of young entrepreneurs: the club has been created [...] and it will expand. Thanks to this, we can already invite entrepreneurs from other countries to a specific agenda — Andrey Platonov, Deputy Director, Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh).

I think it would be nice to place a stamp that says: ‘Approved by the youth council’ in the areas that directly relate to new spheres of integration, including education. I think this would be very important and necessary, and it would be one of the forms that we could use to attract our young people to get involved in various integration processes — Julia Nesterchuk, Director of the Department for Economic Cooperation with the CIS Countries, Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

The essence of the proposal is such: if we look at the figures for academic mobility in the Eurasian Union, we see stagnation at best, and a slow reduction in cross-border academic mobility at worst […] We need a radical breakthrough here […] I think that it can be achieved by, first, prioritizing this aspect of Eurasian integration at the government and interstate levels, and second, by building a financial mechanism for divisions and costs. Part of the costs could be covered by the states, as they actually bear now in many respects, and part by the families themselves, students, and their parents [...] If the state covers education, then the cost of living in a foreign state could be covered by the student and his/her family — Evgeny Vinokurov, Chief Economist, Eurasian Development Bank (EDB).

What do we need to be and how should the academic mobility programme be diversified to make it more attractive? I got the idea of making some modules. The first is to visit several countries at once. The second is to add some professional educational career guidance seminars, meetings, and workshops, and the third is to make cultural visits, take excursions, and do something else with the peculiarities of national culture. I think this would also be interesting and would fit in correctly — Stanislav Surovtsev, Vice Rector for Youth Policy, Social Work and International Relations, MGIMO University.