A BRICS International Youth Forum was held in New Delhi in end-January 2015. The forum was organized by the Russian Centre of Science and Culture in collaboration with the International Federation of Indo-Russian Youth Clubs, the Russian Union of Youth, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India and the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs. The goal was to create an effective tool for interaction between youth organizations in the BRICS countries.
The Forum demonstrated that different governmental, commercial and public organizations of the BRICS countries understand the necessity to accelerate the process of cross-cultural, economic and multi-civilizational dialogue between young leaders and researchers of BRICS countries. Issues discussed at the Forum included development of the health care system in India, education system in South Africa and Russia and government investment programs in India and China.
Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India, Dr. B. Madhukar noted that further expansion of multilateral relations is needed both at the state level and at the level of the business communities and public organizations.
Member of Parliament Meenakshi Lekhi spoke about the need for BRICS countries to forge their own standards in areas of health and education and also regarding establishing a university credit system.
Sarbananda Sonowal, Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports of India addressing the guestsof the Forum spoke about youth movements in India. He also underlined the importance of attracting young people to participate actively in the social, political and economic life of the country.
Forum participants identified goals for future cooperation such as establishing a Working Group for creating BRICS Youth Council, making Youth Policy as a priority for interaction between BRICS countries, establishing a Coordination Council of Youth Programmes within BRICS, organizing a system of Youth Internships, developing a Plan of Cooperation within the BRICS, developing Inter-Cultural and Inter-Ethnic Dialogue and promoting public harmony and tolerance among youth of BRICS countries. Participants decided to hold the next International Youth Forum BRICS in July in the city of Ufa. In November the Forum will take place in South Africa, and Jacob Zuma President of the Republic of South Africa is scheduled to take part.
A particular solemn moment for the delegates of the Forum was a visit to Gandhi Smriti, where they paid tributes on Gandhijis 67th death anniversary. The delegates had the privilege of meeting the Honble Prime Minister Narendra Modi there.
