The Council of the Chamber of Young Legislators representatives and Dmitry Ivanov, Director General of the World Youth Festival Directorate held a working meeting at the Federation Council. The two sides discussed the concept of the upcoming Festival and the formats for parliamentarians' participation.

The International Festival of Youth will be held in September in Ekaterinburg and will become a major platform for international dialogue. The Festival will bring together 10,000 participants from 190 countries, and 5,000 of the will be the representatives from all Russian regions. The program of the Festival will be divided into thematic tracks, aimed at the exchange of the best practices and experience in key areas, including public administration and the development of youth parliamentarism.

The World Youth Festival was held in Russia for the first time in 1957. And each time this event becomes more large-scale and content-rich. Young legislators are constantly taking an active part in the Festival.

One of the important issues discussed at the meeting was the formation of delegations. The Chamber will play a significant role in this process, since its established ties with parliamentarians from other countries will help to promote Festival for foreign participants. Furthermore, the Chamber includes representatives from across Russia, prompting the decision to include legislators in a special commission overseeing the regional selection process.

"The Directorate highly values the Chamber of Young Legislators' readiness to fully engage in the organization of the largest international youth event of 2026 – the International Festival of Youth. Today, the colleagues confirmed their willingness to recommend experts and speakers from this key body of the country's youth parliamentary movement and to contribute proposals to the IFY-2026 program, which will significantly enhance its substantive content. We welcome the initiative to hold a specialized platform dedicated to the development of youth parliamentarianism on the sidelines of the IFY-2026, which will be especially valuable for participants in the "Public Administration" track. We have agreed to work together to expand international outreach and leverage the Chamber's extensive network of international contacts in implementing joint events," noted Dmitry Ivanov.

Assisting in the organization of the Festival and directly participating in it will allow Chamber members to hold personal meetings with their foreign counterparts to jointly address key issues and develop common approaches to solving current challenges.

"We have begun intensive collaboration with the World Youth Festival Directorate. Through joint efforts, we will be able to achieve significant results. At the moment, we are discussing how our work can be mutually beneficial and how the Chamber of Young Legislators can get involved in the preparations for the International Festival of Youth to be held in Ekaterinburg in September," said Mikhail Sobolev.

Overview:

The World Youth Festival took place on March 1–7, 2024 at “Sirius”, according to the Decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the development of international youth cooperation. The WYF-2024 brought together 20,000 young leaders from 190 countries.

In accordance with the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on preserving and developing the legacy of the World Youth Festival, festival events on the territory of the Russian Federation will be held annually. The World Youth Festival Assembly was held in Nizhny Novgorod in 2025 and brought together 2,000 young people from 120 countries. In 2026, the International Festival of Youth will be gather 10,000 participants. The next World Youth Festival for 20,000 participants will be held in 2030.

The World Youth Festival Directorate continues the work aimed at strengthening international youth cooperation and developing a community of young people who care about the future of the world.