Representational Image (Reuters Photo)
Individuals from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation are set to meet for their first forum in Russia's Ufa city in July - on the sidelines of the BRICS summit - to identify areas where they can collaborate. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, among others, will attend the BRICS summit, TASS news agency reported.
Young men and women from BRICS nations will meet in Ufa from July 26-29. They will take stock of the outcome of the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summits, scheduled between July 8 to 10 in the capital of Bashkortostan republic.
The youth forum will be organised in association with the Russian Youth Union (RYU), government of the Republic of Bashkortostan, and the Civic Chamber of Russia and Rossotrudnichestvo.
"Russia is currently presiding in BRICS, so we need to make maximum use of this in order to create as many joint projects as possible. Within the framework of the forum, we gather active young people from these countries who are involved in social activism, business, politics, and diplomacy," RYU chairman Pavel Krasnorutsky said.
Russia's special focus at the summit will be young entrepreneurship within BRICS and the SCO.
"We will also discuss various programmes which will make it possible to get acquainted with new peoples and countries. It is now necessary to involve young people as actively as possible in all the processes taking place in the world.
"This is because in the current macroeconomic situation it is very important to build relationships with our country's strategic partners," Krasnorutsky added.
One of the main tasks this year is to form BRICS "national youth units". These will be tasked with conducting at least three events on various themes each year in their countries. Additionally, work is on to hold "youth exchange years" between Russia and India, similar to the Russia-China Youth Exchange Years (2014-15).