Russian-German youth cooperation is carried out 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.
One of the priority areas for the implementation of the Agreement is the conduction of youth exchanges within the framework of relations between sister cities and regions of Russia and Germany.
Cooperation between cities and regions was an important component of Russian-German relations. At the same time, due to the aging process of significant players within the framework of city partnerships, this area needed constant activation.
In 2016 on the eve of the Russian-German Year of Youth Exchanges the Russian Coordinating Bureau for Youth Exchanges with Germany (currently the Russian Coordinating Bureau for Youth Cooperation with Germany) and the Foundation for German-Russian Youth Exchange took the initiative to hold a youth forum of partner cities of Russia and Germany.
The concept of the forum involves its holding within the framework of the Conference of partner cities of Russia and Germany which is held every 2 years alternately in Russia and Germany.
The first forum was held from June 26 to 30, 2017 in Krasnodar as part of the XIV Conference of partner cities of Russia and Germany and under the auspices of the Russian-German Year of Youth Exchanges 2016–2017. Due to the fact that in 2017-2018 the Russian-German Year of Regional-Municipal Partnerships was held, it was decided to hold the second forum "out of schedule" under the auspices of this cross-year. The second forum took place from September 30 to October 5, 2018 in Hamburg.
At the XIV meeting of the Russian-German Council for Youth Affairs it was decided to hold the forum on a regular basis.
The III Youth Forum of partner cities of Russia and Germany "A city in motion: your project is important!" was held from June 21 to 28, 2019 in Düren under the auspices of the XV Conference of partner cities of Russia and Germany.
The main goal of the forum is to intensify youth cooperation within the framework of the partnership between the cities of Russia and Germany to ensure continuity in the implementation of sister city relations.
Forum organizers: MIREA – Russian Technological University acting as the Russian Coordinating Bureau for Youth Exchanges with Germany together with the German-Russian Forum and the Foundation for German-Russian Youth Exchange with the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation and the Federal Foreign Ministry.
The forum’s participants were 60 young people aged 18 to 30 united in Russian-German teams representing partner cities: Arkhangelsk-Emden, Vladimir-Jena, Irkutsk-Pforzheim, Krasnodar-Karlsruhe, Makhachkala-Hatten/Oldenburg, Mytishchi- Düren, Nizhny Novgorod-Essen, Perm-Duisburg, St. Petersburg-Hamburg, St. Petersburg-Dresden, Yaroslavl-Hanau.
On June 22 at the opening of the forum with a greeting from the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Federal Republic of Germany Sergey Nechaev, the Consul General of the Russian Federation in Bonn Vladimir Sedykh, the Deputy Director of the Institute of Youth Policy and International Relations of RTU MIREA, the Head of the Russian Coordinating Bureau for Youth Exchanges with Germany Dina Sokolova read out a greeting from the Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Marina Borovskaya.
Welcoming remarks were also made by the Head of the Düren District, Wolfgang Spelthahn, the Director of the Department for Children and Youth of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior, Women and Youth, Thomas Tomer, and the Executive Director of the German-Russian Forum, Martin Hoffman.
As part of the forum program the participants got acquainted with the opportunities and priority areas for the development of Russian-German youth cooperation, the methodology for conducting bilateral youth projects, developed ideas for joint projects aimed at developing partner cities and discussed them with experts from city administrations.
The forum participants also took part in the events of the XV Conference of partner cities of Russia and Germany held in Düren from June 25 to 28 including in a flower-laying ceremony at the burial place of 148 Soviet forced laborers in the city of Aachen who died during the Second World War.
Key results of the forum:
The results of the forum were presented at the closing ceremony of the XV Conference of partner cities of Russia and Germany on June 27.
Project’s ideas developed by the forum participants:
-
Makhachkala-Oldenburg — creation of a cafe for people with disabilities.
-
St. Petersburg-Dresden — improving environmental culture (separate waste collection).
-
Arkhangelsk-Emden — digitalization of tourist routes in Arkhangelsk (QR codes on key cultural sites in two languages).
-
Nizhny Novgorod-Essen — creation of a community of volunteers from Nizhny Novgorod and Essen to help young people with disabilities in Nizhny Novgorod (socialization).
-
Irkutsk-Pforzheim — creation of the site of the Irkutsk-Pforzheim friendship society (attracting young people to the work of the friendship society).
-
Krasnodar-Karlsruhe — a 3-party youth forum with the participation of youth of the sister cities of Krasnodar — Karlsruhe and Nancy (France).
-
Mytishchi-Duren — a youth forum in the areas such as environmental education, exchange of experience in working with youth, development of volunteerism and a creative festival with the youth participation of Mytishchi and Düren.
-
Vladimir-Yena — a media project (promotion of youth exchange between Vladimir and Jena through a Youtube channel, a social network to attract youth to the cooperation of partner cities).
-
Perm-Duisburg — attracting youth of Perm and Duisburg to the work of local self-government bodies through the improvement and cleaning of the city's territories.
-
Yaroslavl-Khanau — a media project (creating a mini-film about youth exchange and showing it at the Hanau Short Film Festival to attract young people to the work of the Yaroslavl-Khanau society).
-
Petersburg-Dresden — a project in the field of culture of historical memory (master classes, discussions, visits to museums).
