Sochi, Russia: On March 6, the Closing Ceremony of the World Youth Festival was held at the Bolshoi Sports Palace, which at the time of the WYF 2024 became the World Market Art.Molodost. The main themes of the event were gratitude and fulfillment of dreams. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke in front of thousands of Russian and foreign participants of the WYF 2024.

"When we invited you to come to Russia, we set ourselves fairly simple tasks. We wanted to create conditions of freedom, creativity, friendship that would allow you to communicate with each other, find new friends, and maybe partners for your future projects. I hope we succeeded. But you succeeded even more than we expected. It was you who created here, in the south of Russia, a real World Youth City,” the President of Russia noted.

He noted that the young people who came to the Festival differ in many ways from each other in appearance, but at the same time they are united by traditional values, which are the foundation of life and existence. According to the President, there is no place for segregation or exclusiveness in the world, and all people are equal from the moment of their birth. His words were loudly supported by all participants of the Festival - young people from all over the world applauded for a long time and chanted “Russia!” with one voice.

“You came to Russia, you made many friends here. I want you to know: all of Russia is now your friend. Our doors are always open for you, for all your noble endeavors,” Vladimir Putin addressed young people from all over the world.

The Closing Ceremony, called “The Bonfire Story of the Future,” took the Festival participants back to their childhood and youth. They gathered around the fire and in the atmosphere of evening meetings by the fire, close and understandable to all world cultures, they remembered how the week of the World Youth Festival in Russia went. The WYF 2024 participants hugged and expressed words of gratitude to each other for the time spent together.

The main characters of the show were seven participants of the Festival. Each of them shared their impressions of the World Youth Festival and talked about their dream. Thus, the program director of the Pan-African Youth Alliance, Ray Qiliho from Tanzania, wants to develop ways to improve the level of agriculture in his country. He believes that only by getting rid of stereotypes and prejudices can people solve many international problems.

Madish Parikh came to the Festival from India to find like-minded people. His dream is to create equal conditions for education for young people in all regions. He believes that the world will soon see projects whose ideas were laid down at the WYF 2024.

At the Festival, Victoria Hu from China saw that young people are always open to new things and are ready to change the world for the better, and Russian language teacher Pasha Kazeminezhad from Iran was once again convinced of the importance of preserving cultural and friendly ties between countries.

MGIMO the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation student Irene Cecchini spoke about the need to improve relations between Russia and Italy. At the Festival, she attended many lectures and panel discussions on international relations and politics, and even created her own matreshka.

A young singer from Argentina, Nicolas Reyna, has been making music since childhood. He noted that his mother always supported him on the path to his dream. At the Closing Ceremony, he was able to express his gratitude to her - Nicholas performed a song in Russian for his mother, who was present at the event. Thousands of young people from Russia and abroad sang it with him.

Festival participants also met Ekaterina Kononenko, a Russian sign language interpreter from Russia. She was born into a deaf family and since childhood she dreamed of becoming a “conductor” who would unite two worlds. Ekaterina sang the song “How wonderful this world is” in sign language and even taught some signs to the participants of the WYF 2024. 

The most touching episode of the closing ceremony of the WYF 2024 was the “Immortal Regiment” action, which was joined by participants of the WYF 2024. Young people from 188 countries of the world remembered the events of the Great Patriotic War and raised photographs of fallen soldiers. In addition, the guests of the Festival joined another important tradition for our country - congratulating women on the eve of March 8. The young people presented flowers to the girls present at the Closing Ceremony. President Vladimir Putin also congratulated the Festival participants on the upcoming holiday.

At the end of the show, popular hits in Hindi, Arabic, Chinese, and Russian, performed by both young performers and famous artists, were played for the residents of the World Youth City. Among them are L’ONE, Klava Koka, Sergey Lazarev, and the DABRO group.

Overview:

The World Youth Festival will take place in 2024 according to the Decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the development of international youth cooperation.

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

Source: WYF 2024 Official Press Office

BDST: 1833 HRS, MAR 07, 2024