ULYANOVSK, August 6 (Itar-Tass) — The 1st International Rural Youth Forum, “Sustainable Development of Rural Areas in the Present-Day Conditions”, ended in Ulyanovsk on Saturday.
A member of the organising committee, director of the youth policy department Sergei Teryokhin, told Itar-Tass on Saturday that the participants in the forum intended to organise such forums annually.
The participants in the forum adopted a final document unanimously. It stresses the importance of agricultural problems what solution cannot be delayed, Teryokhin said.
Experts of the Russian Agriculture Ministry, the Ulyanovsk region, scientists, representatives of key banks and leasing companies met with the participants in the forum.
According to chairman of the Rural Youth Europe Michael Schwab, the changes in rural areas are peculiar to all countries. However, he said there was no way to find a universal solution to this problem. Young agrarians are mostly concerned over the outflow of specialists and the lack of comfortable living conditions in the country, he said, adding that many rural areas had no gas, water and good roads.
Representatives of the rural youth also express concern over the fact that people arrive in the country for a short time, for a summer season, and that they do not want to live there. “New approaches and motives are necessary for the rural youth, “ a volunteer from Ulyanovsk, Mikhail Kirillov, said.
The participants in the forum noted that young agrarians’ projects needed support. The young people from Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia and Dagestan stressed the youth’s responsibility for preserve ancestral traditions. They also noted the importance of strengthening contacts between regions.
The forum involved representatives of the agrarian youth organisations, which are partners of the Russian Rural Youth Union, from Germany, France, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia and Russian regions.