At the meeting, the experts talked about various aspects of their work and shared experience with their colleagues abroad. 

Nikolay Kropachev, Rector of St Petersburg University, Chair of the KRD Coordinating Committee on the Russian side, gave a welcoming address pointing out fruitful cooperation between Russia and the Republic of Korea in the field of youth politics. He used an example of the Korea–Russia Youth Art Project initiated by the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE) dedicated to the 30^th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between the Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation.

During six months of fruitful cooperation in a distant format, students from Russia and Korea created three joint art works in the areas of ‘Music’, ‘Theatre’ and ‘Dance’.  The project has demonstrated that the young participants managed to create something beautiful with the help of their experienced mentors even without personal meetings. Being thousands of kilometres away from each other they communicated only through video conference. 
Nikolay Kropachev, Rector of St Petersburg University, Chair of the KRD Coordinating Committee on the Russian side

Lee Kyu Hyung, Chair of the KRD Coordinating Committee on the Korean side, ex-Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Russia, recorded a video message for the workshop participants. ‘Today, all countries run into the youth issues. All countries develop their methods of supporting the youth taking into account their inherent characteristics. In this regard, I consider our today’s meeting especially useful, since we can discuss this efficient youth policy based on different experience of the two countries,’ said Lee Kyu Hyung.

Andrey Kulik, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Korea to the Russian Federation, also recorded a video message for the participants.  ‘I believe that cooperation between young politicians of our countries has significant untapped potential. It concerns not only information exchange, but also internships and joint introductory visits. It would contribute to expanding the horizons, cultivating even more constructive and close relations between the two countries, forming a more complete and objective understanding of each other,’ said Andrey Kulik. 

The speech by Kim Hyun Cheol, President of the National Youth Policy Institute, completed the opening ceremony. According to Kim Hyun Cheol, the experience of ‘contactless’ communication will be an advantage in developing international communication in future, while online format will allow for the creation of new platforms.

‘I think that the participants will have an interesting dialogue and dynamic discussions. Later we will take efforts to continue developing this discussion format. We hope that we will be able to meet in person soon and that today we will discuss really useful measures in expanding exchange among the youth in future,’ said Kim Hyun Cheol, President of the National Youth Policy Institute.

Sergei Orlov, Chief Specialist-Expert of the Department for International Activity at the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh), gave a presentation devoted to 'International Youth Cooperation of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs’. He shared information about various international projects implemented by Rosmolodezh including the work of project offices in Ulyanovsk (‘Russia – BRICS’), Omsk (‘Russia – Central Asia’), Kazan (‘Russia – the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)’) and Salekhard (‘Russia – the Arctic Council’).

The Federal Agency for Youth Affairs actively cooperates with the Republic of Korea.

We are open to new partners and we are happy to provide any contacts to the participants of today’s workshop for the purposes of developing cooperation among the youth.
Sergei Orlov, Chief Specialist-Expert of the Department for International Activity at the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs

Son Min Kyeong, Professor at Kyonggi University, gave a presentation on the Korean side. She talked about the current state and future trends of the international youth exchange at the Republic of Korea. Thus, according to Ms Son Min Kyeong, the main problem both in Korea and in the rest of the world is the quality of life of the youth. ‘Today, the youth in Korea experiences a strong feeling of uncertainty especially in the aspects related to the labour market and employment. Some young people are event concerned about their survival,’ said Son Min Kyeong, Professor at Kyonggi University. She added that currently the life of young people is becoming even more unstable.

As for the youth exchange, evidently, the number of such events has decreased. However, this year Korea has seen a gradual growth in this sphere. Exchange programmes in Korea are related to education, culture, volunteering, sport, economic and social development of the youth.

At the end of the workshop, representatives of the Russian and Korean sides took part in a joint discussion.

Kim Ki Hun, Director of the Youth Policy Analysis & Evaluation Center at the National Youth Policy Institute, told the workshop participants about the international exchange in his country.  Konstantin Kozlov, Director of the International Youth Centre at RUDN University, explained the way student communication is organised using the case of the student tourism programme in the Russian Federation under the current conditions of the pandemic.

Kim Min, Professor at Soonchunhyang University, touched upon the issue of volunteer activity. His remarks were followed by Zurab Khabadze, Associate Professor, Deputy Director in the field of ‘Dentistry’ of the Institute of Medicine at RUDN University. He addressed the workshop participants from his workplace at the hospital. He talked about volunteers working at medical institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finally, two participants shared their experience of participation in the ‘Youth Dialogue’. Thus, Yoon So Hyun, Second Secretary of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea to the Russian Federation, took part in the second and third ‘Youth Dialogues’ and it was this experience that motivated her to study Russia and later work with our country. In conclusion, Aleksei Stanosis, Advisor to the Director for External Affairs and Sustainable Development of the World Ocean Institute at Far Eastern Federal University, Executive Director of the ‘UN Model at the Far East’ public association of the youth, who took part in the 8^th ‘Youth Dialogue’, told the workshop participants about his career path of a future diplomat.