The Russian-German Council for Youth Cooperation was established in 2005 in accordance with the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany in the field of youth cooperation of December 21, 2004 in order to implement and develop bilateral youth exchanges.
The Council:
- determines the priorities and main directions of bilateral youth cooperation,
- develops criteria for the effectiveness of events based on analysis and exchange of experience,
- approves the annual program of Russia-German youth, school and professional youth exchanges.
In accordance with the intergovernmental Agreement on youth cooperation, the composition of the Council is formed on a parity basis from among representatives of state and municipal authorities, organizations and associations of Russia and Germany assisting in the implementation of youth exchanges.
The Chairman of the Russian part of the Council is the director of the Department of State Youth Policy and Educational Activities of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. The Chairman of the German part is the director of the Department for Children and Youth of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth of Germany.
The composition of the Russian part of the Council was approved by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of July 2, 2020 No. 1717-r.
The agenda of Council meetings, as a rule, includes the following items:
- report of the Russian and German sides on the state of affairs in the field of youth policy and on the implementation of the intergovernmental Agreement in the field of youth cooperation,
- report on the activities for the current year of national coordinating bureaus,
- discussion of key Russian-German youth projects that took place this year and are planned for next year,
- approval of the program of youth, school and professional youth exchanges for the next year.
In accordance with the intergovernmental Agreement on youth cooperation, Council meetings were held annually alternately in Russia and Germany:
2006 – Moscow,
2007 – Stuttgart,
2008 – Nizhny Novgorod,
2009 – Berlin,
2010 – Kazan,
2011 – Hamburg,
2012 – Yekaterinburg,
2013 – Cologne,
2014 – Sochi,
2015 – Munich,
2016 – Kazan,
2017 – Nuremberg,
2018 – Saratov,
2019 – Heidelberg,
2020 – Moscow (hybrid format),
2021 – Hamburg (in person).
Source: Sokolova D. International cooperation of the Russian Federation in the field of youth policy // 30 years of state youth policy of the Russian Federation / MIREA – Russian Technological University. – M., 2022. – P. 225–333.
