Resolution

We, the participants of the Fifth International Forum of Young Politicians of the North-West Russia and the Nordic Countries, have met in the city of Petrozavodsk (the Republic of Karelia, the Russian Federation) on April 24-26, 2013 to discuss the challenges of the youth in the sphere of education and employment, participation in the social, economic and political life of the society.

Noting the importance of conducting the Forum that provides young politicians with the opportunity to discuss and work out various approaches to solving of the most urgent problems, and taking into account the eagerness of young people to participate in the social and political processes and to fulfill themselves, we urge the representatives of Russia and the Nordic countries to pay special attention to challenges regarding the youth in our region.

Cross-border youth cooperation is important. Non-formal education, cultural understanding, good language skills and innovation are vital to secure the future cooperation between the Nordic countries and North-West Russia.

In order to join efforts for the effective implementation of youth policy and development of youth parliamentarism:

the contact between the young politicians of the North-West Russia and the Nordic countries is important and we welcome even more dialogue;

we consider the participation of young people of the regions in international youth projects aimed at healthy lifestyle promotion and prevention of negative processes among young people (drug addiction, alcoholism, game addiction) necessary;

we consider it important to create a good environment for the participation of youth in social, political and economic life of their countries at the local, regional and national levels, contributing to the development of the system of youth advisory and consultative bodies at all levels;

Further, we consider it important to raise awareness among young people of their civic and political human rights, such as freedom of speech, freedom of assembly etc. and to encourage young people to make use of these rights, and take active part in political processes, such as voting and seeking election to local, regional as well as national parliaments.

we urge all the parties involved to pay attention to the implementation of youth initiatives and support the desire of young generation to be active members of the society, to encourage all young people to join youth organizations and authorities;

for development of youth cooperation in the field of exchange of cultural, scientific, public relations we suggest simplifying the visa regime by visa-free regime;

In the sphere of education and employment:

Taking into account the general trend of decrease of the number of people of working age, we acknowledge the significance of the broad access of young people to education and vocational training, as well as the importance of youth employment assistance at the national level which includes:

• career guidance;

• conduction of employment and training fairs;

• vocational training, retraining and qualification development for the people in need of employment;

• increasing the competitiveness of young people (graduates of the institutions of basic, secondary vocational education and higher education) on the job market;

• strengthening practical training as an integrate part of education, in order to improve the employment possibilities for recently graduated persons.

• encouraging employers to hire graduates without any employment experience;

• elimination of the imbalance between the professions and qualification of the graduates and the employers’ demands;

• creation and development of the small-scale business assistance system, youth entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship assistance systems, contributing to the exchange of experience in the sphere of youth entrepreneurship development;

we pay attention to the necessity of developing labor standards from the school age, supporting and implementing youth creative skills, contributing to the self-fulfillment of young people;

we emphasize the necessity to develop the system of supporting research aimed at solving social, economic and cultural problems of the region;

we suggest starting to work on the creation of the international working teams as one of the mechanisms of international cooperation and acquisition of work skills.

In the sphere of supporting the diversity of the cultures and the unique cultural heritage of the North (S)

We consider it important to support cultural diversity and to invest in the youth of the indigenous peoples and cultural communities (S) of the North-West Russia and the Nordic countries, contributing to a higher degree of self-determination, professional activity and employment, facilitating youth participation in social and political life.

We consider it important to form principles of preservation of all (UNR) languages, attract the attention of young people to the culture of indigenous peoples and other cultural communities, and stimulate the learning of authentic traditional folk culture among young people.

We consider international outlook to be important, in order to create learning and understanding of cultural diversities between different ethnic groups. Therefore, we support the proposals to conduct activities in the sphere of international dialogue between the Russian Federation and the Nordic countries.

We consider it necessary to continue the work of supporting teachers of indigenous languages, including assisting them in their professional growth.

We recommend taking into consideration new forms of supporting indigenous peoples and cultural communities, to exchange experiences and strengthen interregional dialogue in order to support cultural diversity and unique cultural heritage of the North.