On the 19-th of April, the VII International Youth Ethno-cultural Forum of Border Cooperation “UNITY -  UNITY.KZ” was opened in Pavlodar region, which was held on the basis of Pavlodar State University named after S.Toraigyrov. Delegations from the border regions of the Russian Federation: the cities of Omsk, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, the Altai Territory and regions of Kazakhstan, representatives of youth organizations from South Korea, China, Tajikistan, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan took part in the Forum. Also among the participants were heads of youth resource centers of Kazakhstan's regions, leaders of republican youth organizations and ethno-cultural associations.

The guests of the forum were greeted with an exhibition of start-up projects by young, beginning entrepreneurs, who talked about their interesting projects. There were such projects as "Rimmini", "Alau", "Tafella", interactive multilingual guide for Pavlodar "QR-GUID", 24-hour dining room "Dream Catcher", innovative educational center "ITHOUSE", as well as handmade children from the rehabilitation center “Samal”. The director of the business incubator Donets Elena, the director of the business incubator of the Russian-Economic University of Moscow Mamedov Ruslan, the chairman of the panel of mediators of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Moscow region, the member of the public council of the mediators of the Russian Federation Ivanov Oleg Borisovich arrived to exchange experience from Moscow.

"Today's forum is related to issues of youth diplomacy, interethnic and cultural harmony, and stability and affects the problems of business development," said Pauli Elina, chairman of the Coordination Council of Youth Associations of the Assembly of the Peoples of Kazakhstan.

Plenary sessions were held at three venues: the PSU named after S.Toraigyrov, the Youth Service Center and the House of Friendship.

All who gathered at the plenary session "Interethnic diplomacy in the ХXI century: new challenges, new trends" was welcomed by Deputy Mayor of Pavlodar region Meiram Begentaev. The deputy head of the Secretariat of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan in the Presidential Administration Leonid Prokopenko stressed in his speech that it is necessary to invest not only financial means, but also understand that peace and harmony is also Kazakhstan's most powerful economic asset.

The fields of the forum discussed international experience in the development of the ecosystem of start-ups, ethno-mediation, modern trends in the youth environment and many others.

 At the end of the plenary part of the forum performing Rector’s duties of the PGU, pro-rector for science and innovations Nurlan Yerzhanov handed over the cup "Unity -Unity.Kz" to the chairman of the youth wing of the Association of Uzbeks of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Dustlik" Sherzod Pulatov.

The competition start-up projects StartUP battle the owner of one million tenge became a master student of PSU with «KazAgroTrade» project Alfarabi Uzak.

Also after the competition of start-up projects, the concert program "Let units in the world" was held, in which ethno-cultural associations of the assembly of the people of Kazakhstan of the Pavlodar region took part.

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