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MUNRFE became co-organizer of the Third Russia-ASEAN Youth Summit
On the 8th of October young leaders from Russia and ASEAN countries came to Vladivostok, Far Eastern Federal University to participate in the Third Russia-ASEAN Youth Summit. More than 100 students, representatives of federal and regional institutions and scientific communities discussed the goals of the ASEAN economic integration, opportunities for education and cultural exchange for cooperation development on the intergovernmental level and other related issues. Besides foreign participants, 8 current members and alumni of MUNRFE participated in the Summit.
It was the third Summit for young leaders: the first time it was conducted in Moscow, Russia in 2013, then in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2014. The latter was the one where Mr. Vitaly Savenkov (MUNRFE Director-General) and Ms. Olga Katina (MUNRFE Annual Conference 2014 Secretary-General) had a chance to meet Dr. Victor Sumsky, the Director of the ASEAN Center in MGIMO University, and to agree upon conducting the next Russia-ASEAN Youth Summit in Vladivostok. Afterwards, MUNRFE Executive Director, Ms. Ksenia Shevtsova became a Coordinator and President of Vladivostok MUNRFE Club, Ms. Victoria Yavorskaya - a Vice-Coordinator.
The 9th of October started with the Opening ceremony and the following Plenary session where Dr. Victor Sumsky served a moderator of plenary reports made by the invited guests: H.E. Mr. Alexander Ivanov, Ambassador at Large of the Russian Federation, Mr. Albert Rakipov, Deputy Director of the Department of Foreign Economic Activity, Attraction of Private Investments and Export Support of the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East, Mr. Sergey Nekhaev, Vice-Governor of Primorskiy territory and Mr. Artyom Zolotarev, Director of FEFU Centre of New Technologies of University Internationalization.
During the Summit participants were working in 3 Groups: ASEAN Economic Community, ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community and ASEAN Political-Security Community. According to the procedure of the groups, 2 student-representatives from Russia and ASEAN were expected to make a presentation about the aspects of Russia-ASEAN cooperation and the perspectives of strengthening this cooperation in the spheres of economy, politics, security and social culture. Young leaders had a chance to discuss important issues in English language not only with their peers but also with professionals and experts invited to the Summit, in particular, H.E. Mr. Alexander Ivanov, Ambassador at Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; H.E. Mr. Djauhari Oratmangun, Ambassador of Republic of Indonesia to the Russian Federation; H.E. Ambassador I Gede Ngurah Swajaya, former Permanent Representative of the Republic of Indonesia to ASEAN; H.E. Mrs. Rosario G. Manalo, Former Ambassador of Philippines; Mr. Oudet Souvannavong, Co-Chairman of ASEAN Business Advisory Council; Mr. Ke Sovan, representative of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cambodia and other distinguished experts and guests from Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia and Russia.
The outcome of the Workshops was adoption of the Declaration, consisting of participants’ proposals and deliberations during the Round Tables in each group. Discussion of economic, political-security and socio-cultural agenda items of Russia-ASEAN cooperation resulted into the following recommendations: to initiate a process of simplified procedures for businesses (e-visas), to engage youth representatives in the activities of Russia-ASEAN Business Council; to emphasize the importance of strengthening cooperation between Russia and ASEAN in promoting positive values, such as indivisible peace and trust, as opposed to disvalues, such as extremism and radicalism, to stress Russia’s potential to contribute to ASEAN’s environmental and energy security, e.g. through exchange of technology, knowledge and expertise; to reduce the language barriers by devising simple phrase books, programmes for ASEAN-Russia youth exchanges and to raise awareness of the educational opportunities in Russia and ASEAN. The Declaration will be submitted to Russia-ASEAN Joint Cooperation Committee for further consideration.
The main partners of the project were the Global Media Project “Russia Beyond the Headlines”, International multimedia news agency “Rossiya segodnya”, ASEAN Moscow Committee, Russian International Affairs Council, Russia-ASEAN Business Council and Russkiy Mir Foundation. Model United Nations of the Russian Far East expresses its gratitude to Far Eastern Federal University, the ASEAN Center in MGIMO University and partners of the Summit for the significant contribution in the organizing the process of the Summit, dedication to development of youth’s potential and support of young leaders from Russia and ASEAN.
