On March 2, 2024, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia visited the World Youth Festival, which takes place from March 1 to March 7 in the federal territory of Sirius in the Krasnodar Territory.
The World Youth Festival was organized in accordance with the Decree of the President of Russia V.V. Putin in order to develop international youth cooperation. At the first meeting of the organizing committee, chaired by First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation Sergey Kiriyenko, it was decided to hold the festival on the federal territory of Sirius.
During the days of the WFM-2024, the Olympic Park on the federal territory of Sirius became the "City of Youth of the World", and Sirius University was stylized as an international airport.
The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church was met by officials of the Russian Federation at the Potemkin Stairs of the International Airport of the World Youth Festival.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill inspected part of the expositions of the "airport" of the World Youth Festival.
The Airport is a unique exhibition space of the International Youth Festival, where the achievements of regions, universities and the largest companies in the economic sector of the Russian Federation are presented in the format of various zones of this airport. "Airport" is a metaphor for "takeoff", symbolizing that everything has been created in Russia today so that young people can have the opportunity to grow rapidly in their careers, education and other spheres of life.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill visited exhibitions presented by the largest children's organizations in Russia — the playground of the Artek International Children's Center and the Flight Control Center of the Russian Movement of Children and Youth "Movement of the First". Explanations to His Holiness were given by the head of Rosmolodezh, K.D. Razuvaeva, representatives of Artek and the Movement of the First.
His Holiness also visited the Vladivostok — the Youth Capital of Russia site, which presents local brands from creative young entrepreneurs.
Among the events organized within the framework of the festival is the educational marathon "Knowledge. The first ones." On the site of the educational marathon in the plenary hall of Sirius University, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met with participants of the festival from around the world and regions of Russia.
The event began with a demonstration of a video about the ministry of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill addressed the participants of the World Youth Festival. The Primate of the Russian Church answered the questions of the audience.
At the end of the meeting, His Holiness shared his impressions of the meeting and the youth festival with the correspondent of VGTRK.
"I think the contact took place. I was very pleased with the questions, which were quite deep and required some reflection from me," His Holiness the Patriarch said.
"And the most important thing is the general atmosphere, very favorable, optimistic, as it should be. Because youth without optimism is a very dangerous symptom for the country. And I hope that our youth has the proper potential to move forward along the historical path, ensuring the future of our country," His Holiness concluded.
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The World Festival of Youth and Students in the USSR was first held in 1957. It was the VI WFM, which gathered a record 34 thousand participants from 131 countries of the world. In 1985, Moscow hosted the Youth Forum (XII WFMS) for the second time. 26 thousand people from 157 countries of the world took part in it. In October 2017, Russia hosted the festival (XIX WFMS) for the third time. 25 thousand people from 188 countries took part in it.
The 2024 World Youth Festival in Russia continues the traditions of these forums, although, in order to avoid confusion and sanctions, it has no formal relation to the World Festival of Youth and Students (WFMS), which is organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth and the International Union of Students (the XX WFMS is planned to be held in Mexico in 2024)
The idea to create a platform for an open dialogue between young people at the international level arose directly in the Moldovan environment. In January 2023, Daria Semenova, a student at the RUDN University, proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold a World Youth Festival. The Head of state supported the idea. It was decided to hold the festival on the federal territory of Sirius from March 1 to March 7, 2024.
More than 300 thousand young people from 188 countries of the world expressed their desire to become participants of the WFM-2024. According to the results of the selection, the festival is attended by 20,000 young leaders in education, science, international cooperation, culture, volunteerism and charity, sports, business, media and other fields, about half of them are representatives of foreign youth.
For the first time in the history of the festival movement, teenagers from 14 to 17 years old are also taking part in the event — 500 children from Russia and 500 from abroad.
Volunteers play an important role in the preparation and holding of the festival. The competition commission selected 5,000 volunteers from all regions of Russia, including 228 people from the LPR, DPR, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions.
The organizer of the World Youth Festival is the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh), the operator of WFM-2024 is the Directorate of the World Youth Festival.
The main goal of the festival is to unite representatives of the younger generation who want to build a future together based on cooperation, mutual understanding and common values. The organizers strive to demonstrate Russia's achievements in the field of youth policy, give impetus to the development of international projects and strengthen cooperation in solving global problems of our time.