Successful BSSSC youth event held in Kaliningrad, Russia

About thirty youths from the Baltic Sea Region met between April 7-9 in Kaliningrad, Russia, to discuss how to build mutual understanding in the region. 

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The participants of this year’s BSSSC youth spring meeting met on Sunday afternoon and were greeted by Alla Ivanova, Minister-Head of Agency for International and Interregional Relations of the Kaliningrad region and Denis Kalinovskiy, Head of Agency for Youth Affairs of the Kaliningrad region. The youth were taken on a bus tour around the city before meeting the governor of the Kaliningrad region, Mr. Anton Alikhanov, for a talk without ties. The youth was able to ask some questions to the governor and vice versa. They discussed how to involve youth in the Baltic Sea Region, and the role of culture in building mutual understanding. Mr. Alikhanov encouraged the youth to be critical, visionary and demanding when writing their youth delcaration.

The next day the youths attended workshops with a focus on honing their communication skills. The workshop was arranged by the Kaliningrad State Technical University, where they also met with art-director of the movie “Zarya”, Mr. Artem Ryzhkov. Afterwards the BSSSC youth board members had a workshop where they worked on their Baltic Sea Youth Declaration.

On the third day the youngsters were taken by bus to Svetlogorsk, a small city outside of Kaliningrad city.  There, the youth could get close to the Baltic Sea and experience the beauty of a rural Russian city.  After a sightseeing tour, the youth continued to work on their declaration. The key points of the declaration can be read below (full declaration to be posted later). 

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SUSTAINABILITY 

The BSSSC youth commits to the Sustainable development Goals of the United Nations. Regarding sustainability the youth took tree key points that it wants to emphasize on:  

 

• We recommend to all Baltic states to establishes a recycling system for bottles. This can already be found in numerous countries around the Baltic sea but should be expended to more. This is closely linked to SDG 12.  

• We recommend that the Baltic states take action to make youth finish school and establish systems/programs for those who struggle to get through school. This is closely linked to SDG 4. 

• We recommend the Baltic states makes investments in education and green solutions to reduce unemployment among youth and promote innovation.  

 

EDUCATION  

The BSSSC youth sees education as a crucial part of life and a key to everyone's future. Therefore, we designed the following proposals and statements: 
 

• We recommend that Summer camps will not only improve the level of education but will also enable youth to exchange ideas and domestic values.  

• We see that teacher exchanges are beneficial for both teachers and students due to the fact that they will learn about other education systems. 

• We recommend organizing Eco-camps for kids to teach children about ecological problems, how to recycle and to protect nature.  

• We demand equal rights for all residents of the Baltic Sea region regardless of their region for admission to Scholarships.  

 

MULTICULTURALISM 

The BSSSC youth encourages multiculturalism. Therefore   

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• We encourage multiculturalism 

• We want to create more youth events in the Baltic Sea region, such as sports events, art, touristic roads, and music festivals.  

• We want to encourage multiculturalism by spreading awareness of our common culture and history as well as our uniqueness.  

• We want to work to preserve free internet and media for all.  

 

Curious about earlier youth events? Check out the BSSSC Youth page. 

The BSSSC would like to thank the Kaliningrad Region for hosting such a memorable youth event!

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