Date : 15 August, 2020
Time :13:00 -16:00
Location : Zoom platform
On August 15th, 2020, the fifth session of the Youth Conference “Model SCO” (hereinafter – the Conference) was held in the online format on the Zoom Meeting platform. The SCOLAR Network with the support from the SCO Secretariat held the Conference as a simulation session of the SCO Summit of “Council of Heads of States.” The topic of the Conference was “Cross-Cultural Entrepreneurship as a Remedy to Post-COVID Economic Development in the SCO Region.”
The Conference was attended by 22 delegates, representatives of eight SCO member states, and four observer states. Participants from the Russian Federation chaired the meeting.
The participants of the meeting highlighted the importance of the steps already taken by the SCO countries in response to the pandemic caused by COVID-19 and ways to develop cross-cultural entrepreneurship. The delegates noted that the stable economic growth of the SCO region would depend on the growth of information technologies, digitalization, IoT, and Big Data. For instance, China has shown an excellent example in developing the regulations on the development of digital solutions to small and medium enterprises (SME). Indian crowdfunding platform “Milaap” which was founded in 2010 by a team of young entrepreneurs, is getting expanded and serves as a platform where everybody can raise funds for healthcare, education, sports, disaster relief, and other personal causes. Likewise, Russian entrepreneurs shifted to e-commerce, and the government-assisted the citizens with concrete policy actions aimed at providing information, advisory, and financial support.
During the Conference, youth representatives took the initiative of the involvement of Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to empower SMEs and their employees to build operational, strategic, financial, and skills-based resilience. Also, they agreed on the establishment of an International Research Center for AI and Data analytics under the SCO and to develop a scientific and educational online space “Youth Entrepreneurship Initiative.” Likewise, an online reality show for young entrepreneurs called SCOPE, which will act as an incubator and accelerator to facilitate real business projects, was agreed to promote cross-cultural entrepreneurship in the SCO region.
During the closing of the Conference, SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov noted a high-level preparation and excellent performance of each of the delegates and highlighted and provided feedback to all of the ideas proposed by the participants. The Secretary-General mentioned that the proposals of the delegates were valuable and beneficial, and invited the participants to summarize all the proposed ideas and prepare a report on the development and promotion of cross-cultural entrepreneurship in the SCO countries. He stressed that “SCO will always support any positive initiatives of the youth. The experience of the “Model SCO” should be spread throughout the whole region of the organization.”