Astana gives a new impetus to the YIPA CIS development

20 October 2018

Astana gives a new impetus to the YIPA CIS development

Following the invitation by the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a retreat session of the YIPA CIS took place in Astana on 18–20 October 2018.

The meeting brought together youth parliamentary delegations of the Azerbaijan Republic, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan. Young MPs from various committees of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan also took part in the event as invited observers.

All the members of youth parliamentary delegations, who arrived at the meeting, delivered reports on the agenda issues. The participants discussed the issue of intercultural communication of the youth of the Commonwealth, the issues of media security and media education of the youth, the outcomes of the Second Eurasian Women’s Forum Open Discussion “Youth Positive Energy”. Besides, the participants reviewed the progress made in the elaboration of the Draft Recommendations on Establishing and Developing Youth Parliamentary Structures in the CIS, as well as the opportunities for improving legal regulation of the youth-led public organizations activities.

The invited expert of the CIS Board of Statistics Ilya Kuznetsov and UNFPA Deputy Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia Jan McFarlane presented the results of the recent studies on the status of youth in the CIS.

The participants also learned about youth outreach practices of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The invited experts described the trends and prospects for the development of public youth policy in Kazakhstan and informed the participants that the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev declared 2019 the Year of Youth.

In addition, the participants discussed the YIPA CIS action plan for 2019 featuring the co-hosting of the international conference “Young Electorate and Candidates” with the IIMDD IPA CIS, preparations for the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic Warand other events dedicated to the Year of the Book in the CIS.

On 19–20 October 2018, within the framework of the retreat session, the YIPA CIS members took part in the international conference “Youth Investments. No One Shall Be Left without Attention”, organized by the Majzhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Asian Population and Development Association.

The Conference brought together about 200 people from 32 countries – parliamentarians, experts, representatives of public authorities, international organizations, youth non-governmental organizations, and academia.