100 days to the largest youth event in the world: the countdown to WYF-2024 was launched at the RUSSIA EXPO

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On November 21, the countdown was launched: there are exactly 100 days left until the World Youth Festival. The event took place in the Home of Youth, one of the pavilions of the International RUSSIA EXPO, which was opened on the same day and is dedicated to the achievements and opportunities of young people. President Vladimir Putin addressed the participants of the celebration.

Russia is becoming the center of international youth policy and an important platform for building international ties in the sphere of global youth projects, the largest of which will be the World Youth Festival. This world-class event will bring together young people from all over the world and allow the younger generation to lay a strong foundation for productive and close international cooperation for many years to come.

Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the whole country and the guests of the Home of Youth. "Everyone is interested in the achievements of our country, and they can really surprise and inspire, which is exactly what the International RUSSIA EXPO shows. On its platform the countdown of days to the upcoming festival starts. From today there are exactly one hundred days left. Starting from today, there are exactly one hundred days left", - the Head of State said.

The guests were introduced to the five main values to which each day of the festival will be dedicated: responsibility for the fate of the world, multinational unity, a world of equal opportunities, preservation of traditional family values, demonstration of the best achievements of our country in youth and interethnic areas.

The festive event was held in the format of an interactive show: more than 300 representatives of youth and more than 50 honored guests from various fields became passengers of the flight "Home of Youth" - "City of Youth of the World". The announcement about "boarding" was made in foreign languages, because the festival will unite participants from all over the world - more than 250 thousand people from 183 countries have already applied.

Tatyana Golikova, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia for Social Policy, delivered a speech at the opening of the Home of Youth and the event dedicated to the 100 days before the WYF-2024.

"I think we have a lot to show, a lot to present, even in the short period that passed between 2017 and 2024. It is very important that during this period, Russia has formed an amazing youth movement, a movement of people who are not indifferent, a movement of people who help and come to each other's aid. And this is confirmed by all our youth projects and our main flagship campaign #WEARETOGETHER. Thanks to this campaign, more and more people in our country and around the world are uniting around Russia", - said Tatyana Golikova.

Anastasia Zvyagina, Deputy Director General of the ANO «Directorate of the Exhibition of Achievements "Russia"» noted that the Exposition has already become a venue for major youth events. For example, the forum More than a Trip for young tour guides was held, the All-Russian Festival of Youth Entrepreneurship is going on now.

"Our Exposition is primarily focused on young people. Two thousand foreign guests of the World Youth Festival will come to our RUSSIA EXPO, and I hope that here they will reinforce the positive impressions about Russia, which they will acquire during their trips to our cities, and they will be able to get acquainted with the whole Russia, learn more about its achievements and multinational flavor on one platform", - said Anastasia Zvyagina.

During the WYF-2024, the Olympic Park will turn into a real World Youth City, which will become one of the symbols of the festival and unite all the participants. Its concept was presented by the WYF-2024 Program Director Sergey Pershin.

The journey to the City of Youth will start from the Sirius Science and Art Park stylized as the WYF-2024 International Airport and will pass through the main attractions of the youth capital of 2024. Thus, Medal Square will become the center of the City, the Iceberg Ice Palace will become the Palace of Culture, the Sirius Planetarium will become a cinema, the Academy of Martial Arts will host the sports arena of the City of Youth, and the Bolshoy Sports Palace will host a grand fair of youth art and folk arts and crafts "Art.Youth".

100 days until the festival were celebrated all over the country: a flash mob "I Dream! I Love! I Thank you!" was launched at the Home of Youth venue and was supported in Russian cities. Young people across the country conveyed youth value manifestos with gestures.

In Chelyabinsk, Salekhard, Yekaterinburg, Yaroslavl, Vladivostok, St. Petersburg, Lugansk, Sevastopol, Krasnoyarsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Tula, Belgorod, which were included in the regional program of the festival, events were also organized to support the countdown to WYF-2024.

In addition, the illumination of famous objects in cities across Russia was changed for several hours to the signature colors of the WYF-2024 logo - yellow, green, pink. Volgograd, Kaliningrad, Sochi, Krasnoyarsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Vladivostok, Saransk, Kazan, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Tula, Yaroslavl, Salekhard, Lipetsk, Donetsk took part in the celebration.

For instance, in Moscow, the colors of the WYF-2024 were displayed on the Ostankino Tower, the Evolution Tower, the Book Houses on New Arbat, the Moscow House of Books on New Arbat, objects on the territory of VDNH, while a light show about the World Youth Festival was held on the front of the Pavilion No. 1 "First in Russia - Land of Opportunity".

The organizer of the World Youth Festival is the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh), the operator of the WYF-2024 is the World Youth Festival Directorate.