President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Friends,
The World Youth Festival will open in Russia on March 1, 2024 – in exactly 100 days. This momentous event will take place on the Sirius federal territory in Sochi. We will welcome people from the whole world there as our dear guests.
We have already received over 250,000 applications from 183 countries. This impressive number shows that there is no force stronger than friendship. It reflects a vast, sincere interest in Russia, our history, traditions, values and modern views on the future, which have united young people from the most diverse countries across the globe.
Naturally, all of them are interested in our national achievements that can surprise and inspire, as the Russia international exhibition and forum shows. The countdown clock will be launched there, at the exhibition’s venue. Starting today, it will count down the 100 days until the opening of the World Youth Festival.
Of course, we would like young people from all over the world to see Russia as it is – with its natural, cultural and ethnic diversity, and its main asset and wealth – talented, ambitious people. They are capable of resolving the most challenging tasks and conquering any summits for the benefit of their homeland.
We want our guests to see that Russia is really a land of opportunity and that young people have an enormous space in which to unlock their potential and let their dreams come true.
Young people, and they are the ones that will determine the future, respect personal freedom and the right to their own opinion. However, at the same time, they find it easier to understand each other because they consider important what unites rather than divides people. Russia adheres to the same principles of recognising the identity and national interests of different states.
I am confident that the festival will become an important step in creating a fair, multipolar world. It will unite young people in searching for the solutions that are needed by the modern world arrangement, and in creating firm foundations for cooperation, on which interstate relations can rest.
See you, friends, at the World Youth Festival on March 1, 2024.