The Barents Youth Cooperation Office (BYCO) was established in 2002 in Murmansk as part of the implementation of the Action Plan adopted at the First Conference of Ministers for Youth Affairs of the Member States of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council took place on May 14–16, 2001 in Tromso (Norway).

On January 24, 2007 an Agreement on the Office for Promoting Youth Cooperation in the Barents Region was signed between the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Finland, the Ministry of Children and Equality of the Kingdom of Norway and the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of the Kingdom of Sweden.

The purpose of the office is to support multilateral cooperation in the field of youth in order to improve the situation of young people in the Barents Region as well as Sustainable Development of the region.

The office dealt with the following issues:

• advising and training youth groups interested in international cooperation on issues such as planning and managing youth projects, possible sources of funding for youth projects, 
• support for international youth projects in the Barents Region (multilateral and bilateral), 
• informing about the possibilities of youth cooperation in the Barents Region and developing a network of contacts between youth organizations in the Region, 
• interaction with the Joint Working Group on Youth Affairs of the Barents Euro-Arctic Region,
• interaction with the Barents Regional Youth Council, 
• promotion of cooperation between the youth affairs bodies of the regions included in the Barents Region.

In 2016 the activity of the office was terminated.

Source: the collection "30 years of state youth policy of the Russian Federation" (30 years of state youth policy of the Russian Federation / MIREA – Russian Technological University. - M., 2022. - 340 p.)