Event Review | X Model SCO at Boao BYDC

On December 3rd, 2022, the X “Model SCO” Youth Conference at Boao Youth Development Conference was successfully held online, with the theme of “Driving Regional Cooperation Within SCO: Opportunities and Prospects.” SCOLAR Network and Boao Youth Development Conference co-hosted the conference. 13 young delegates from SCO countries participated in the discussion, representing eight member states, the SCO Secretariat, and nine delegations.

At the beginning of the meeting, Mrs. Debora Kayembe, Rector of the University of Edinburgh, a fellow at the Royal Society of Arts, Ms. Wenli Hu, Deputy Secretary General of Boao Youth Development Conference, and Ms. Victoria Khu, Co-founder, and CEO of SCOLAR Network, delivered speeches. 

Mrs. Debora Kayembe mentioned that youth are the most active and vibrant force in society, and their potential will never be under-recognized. This gathering brings together groups of youths from all around the world through cultural exchange and collaboration. She then asked the youth to be fearless in their position, believe in themselves, be true to themselves, never say never, and reach out to the corner of the world under a spirit of fraternity, love, and respect.

Deputy Secretary General of the Boao Youth Development Conference, Ms. Wenli Hu, mentioned that the Boao Youth Development Conference aims to build a brand-new platform to lead the growth of youth groups, encourage them to be innovative, promote them to be dedicated, and facilitate Chinese youth to understand the world and the world youth to understand China. Young people are the present and future of a nation and a country, the inheritors of civilization, and the pioneers of the future. The Model SCO meeting is an excellent platform for young people to understand the “Shanghai Spirit better,” broaden their vision and open up their minds to understand the international situation thoroughly.

Ms. Victoria Khu, Co-founder and CEO of SCOLAR Network expressed her great pleasure in launching the Model SCO at Boao Youth Development Conference jointly. She stressed that all the delegates had put great efforts into this event, going through several stages of selection, training, and writing documents to make it to the day of the youth conference. She’s looking forward to seeing what youth from various countries think of regional development.

In the formal session, under the chairmanship of India, nine delegations took turns speaking according to the seating arrangement. Representatives expressed their views and put forward many constructive suggestions on how to drive regional cooperation in the SCO countries.

Finally, the consensus was reached, and a declaration was formed on the establishment of the “SCO Digital” platform and Clearing and Settlement Centers, the further standardization of digital technology in agriculture, the establishment of the SCO green cooperation platform, development of incubation centers and entrepreneurship hubs, and the development of the tourism sector. Delegates voted, put forward amendments, rewrote some points, and then read the declaration.

Alina Steblyanskaya, the representative of Russia, won the “Best Position Paper” award, Chyngyz Sherniiazov, the representative of Kyrgyzstan, won the “Best Performance” award, and Tia Zhao, the representative of Tajikistan, won the “Best Delegate” award. Olesia Ermakova, Khola Masood, and Shikha Thapa Magar from the organizing committee presented the awards to the winners.

Declaration of the X “Model SCO”‘s Heads of State Council

Delegates Feedback

Botakoz Yelshibek

Kazakhstan

Delegate of Uzbekistan

Very informative organization on a high professional level. I learned a lot about SCO, how to write position papers, reach a consensus, discussing ideas from perspectives of different countries. I’ve got more insights on how to make regional development better with young and like-minded people like me. I want to thank our mentor Khola for guiding us. Thank Shikha for organizing everything and giving us directions. It seems easy to offer suggestions. But when you say recommendations for all countries, there are conflicts of interest and different situations in every country. Finding this consensus and giving a standard solution to a problem looks pretty challenging and exciting. 

Chyngyz Sherniiazov

Kyrgyzstan

Delegate of Kyrgyzstan 

I think it was an exciting experience for everyone. Thanks to the organizers, Victoria, and my mentor Shikha. We can meet in the future next time in Hainan. It’s still a pleasure to meet everyone. I think everyone has excellent points. I learned a lot. I learned some interesting new topics that I didn’t consider myself. Great job, everyone.

Alina Steblyanskaya

Russia

Delegate of Russia

Thanks, Victoria, for the invitation. I appreciate it so much; it was an excellent experience for me. Thanks, Olesia, for the guidance. Thanks, Shikha, for your excellent hard work! It’s so hard to connect our minds and manage this process. Thanks, Khola; we can learn a lot from you. I’m so honored to be acquainted with you, and let us stay healthy and together.

Zhuldyz Mussobayeva

Kazakhstan

Delegate of Kazakhstan

It was my first experience. I want to thank the organizers first. They did a great job, especially in how they quickly managed to turn everything online, and it went perfectly. I also want to say thank you to Khola. She is also our delegation’s mentor. Thank her very much for guiding us and giving us valuable feedback. I enjoyed it, and I imagined how great it would be offline, and hopefully, we can meet sometime in the future.

Javohir Ahmedov

Tajikistan

Delegate of Tajikistan

I have learned a lot from the MSCO, the nature of SCO, the agricultural sector of SCO countries, and ideas from young people from different countries. I hope that we can have more time for discussion!

Danial Zahid Shafique

Pakistan

Delegate of Russia

Today’s conference was terrific. It’s my first experience, I am thankful to my mentor Professor Alina. She allowed me to attend this conference, and I learned a lot.

I’m looking forward to seeing you soon at the offline conference.