Following the opening ceremony of the SCO Countries Youth Representatives Assembly, the Second Model SCO Youth Conference was successfully concluded on the 9th of November, 2018 at the city of Dongfang in Hainan. It marked a truly historic event for us, as this was the Joint Statement from the youth to the Joint Address of the Heads of SCO for Youth following the meeting held on 10th June 2018 in Qingdao, China. The importance of involving the young generation in decision-making and encouraging them to work together to enhance regional cooperation and mutual relations inspired us to keep this first step.
Hence, energized by the Shanghai Spirit, initiated by SCOLAR with the support from the SCO Secretariat, our Second Model SCO Youth Conference proved to be a roaring success. It inspired us to raise our voice, to speak on behalf of each respective country, to listen to fellow family members from other SCO countries, understand each other at a deeper level and come to a consensus together as one family.
On this day, 22 delegates representing 12 countries came together to address the topic “SCO Youth against Terrorism and Extremism” by adding their valuable thoughts on how to address these growing concerns. The conference-simulation of SCO meetings provided the unique opportunity for youth delegates to lead discussions, debate and address the real-life terrors faced by innocent citizens, especially those faced by youth of all countries and what could be done to fight them together.
The event opened with the welcome address from the organizers and took place in three main parts. This time, the Model SCO was moderated by the Kyrgyzstan delegation and facilitated by delegates representing as the Secretary-General and the Director of RATS (Regional Against Anti-Terrorism Structure of SCO). The first part saw one delegate from each country open the discussion on the main topic of the meeting by giving their brief speeches in Russian, Chinese or English. Meanwhile, the second part consisted of open discussions with questions and comments by delegates, followed by voting to arrive at a consensus. Further, in the third part, each delegate cast their votes on four criteria: The best delegate, the best speech, the outstanding delegate, and the outstanding speech.
Finally, this joint youth statement to respond to “Youth against Terrorism and Extremism” saw many exciting suggestions and proposals being discussed. Some were confirmed whilst others were not, but the overall discussion saw various perspectives of youth from different countries voiced in one platform. Promoting education to create awareness on anti-terrorism, fostering youth entrepreneurship, to creating a SCO University Alliance called SCOUA, having a special Fund to strengthen national borders, strengthening cybersecurity, educating parents and having various cultural activities for youth were among many other ideas shared.
Stay tuned to our Generation SCO WeChat page, our social media channels and the link below for live updates and photos of our SCO Youth Assembly happening from 09th – 11th November in Dongfang, Hainan.
Await our Joint Statement from the Youth Delegates with all the details agreed upon consensus, which will be released soon.
作者 Writer:Shewmay Chang (Sri Lanka)
翻译 Translation: Fei Wang (China)
排版 Layout:Sanaa Ganbat (Mongolia)
审核 Editor:Victoria Khu (Russia)