The 19th World Festival of Youth and Students took place in Sochi (Russia) during October 14-22, 2017. Its participants included representatives of non-governmental organizations, professors, politicians, power industry workers and journalists from 185 countries; overall, 25,000 young people took part in the festival. In the Olympic Park there were many educational and entertainment events, meetings with famous politicians, scientists and young professionals from all over the world.
As part of the festival, there were events related to science and education under the topic "Industry of the Future"; their delegates participated in round-table discussions and workshops, discussing the values of the future, modern technologies and topical issues related to the environment and sustainable development.
With support from State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom, the panel discussion titled "Powering the Future" was organized, during which the participants discussed the role of nuclear power in tackling global challenges, issues related to environmental protection and the importance of corporate social responsibility of companies all over the world.
"WFYS is an excellent platform for discussing the future which everyone faces. Tomorrow and what it will be like depends on the decisions which we take today. Rosatom forms an integral part of the future landscape, as it is a supplier of green energy which makes it possible to develop new technologies that were impossible in the past," said Vadim Titov, Senior Vice-President of “Rusatom International Network”.
During the week, young people from Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East expressed their ideas and formed a single vision of global development, which was presented to the President of Russia Vladimir Putin at the end of the Festival. WFYS organizers created an exposition titled "The Time Mirror" presenting the vision of the future "from the present".
The Festival and its Rosatom-supported activities received enthusiastic reviews from Middle Eastern participants, including nuclear engineering students from the region’s leading universities such as Alexandria University and Khartoum University (Sudan) who attended the event on the invitation of Rosatom.
Hossam Farah, nuclear engineering student at Alexandria University, said, “This Festival is a unique diversity of the cultures and backgrounds of the participants and programs of the festival. Also, I have benefited greatly from some of the lectures that were discussing the rehabilitation of future leaders in various fields such as energy, peace and technology, as well as the characteristics that future leaders should have. This is in addition to the various issues that must be taken into account in the stage of preparing young people to lead our tomorrow world.”
Yousef Abouhussein, another nuclear engineering student at Alexandria University Alexandria University, added, “I have benefited greatly from this wonderful experience, which included meeting many experts in the nuclear field. This helped me to form a clearer picture of the future of nuclear energy in Egypt and Middle East, and I would like to thank Rosatom for this wonderful experience.”
Tibyan Mostafa, nuclear engineering student at the University of Khartoum, concluded, ‘Within those few busy days that we spent at Sochi Festival I met students that study nuclear engineering from all over the world – Vietnam, China, Bangladesh and many other countries. It was there that an idea to create a World Nuclear Youth social media group came to mind. This kind of social platform could help all the students of our speciality to meet each other virtually and discuss and share useful information on international educational programs and scholarships.’