Azerbaijan should unite youth of countries along Great Silk Road - minister

The International Youth Congress and Great Silk Road Festival opened in Baku today, Trend reports.

Over 200 representatives from 27 countries, representing state agencies working with young people, leaders and senior representatives of youth organizations, as well as young MPs, are attending the Congress.

The Congress was opened by the chairman of the Azerbaijani Youth Fund, Farhad Hajiyev.

Azerbaijan, in particular Baku, is a center uniting East and West, Islamic and Christian religions, Youth and Sports Minister Azad Rahimov said at the opening of the Congress.

"So, Azerbaijan must play a role in uniting young people of the countries located on the Great Silk Road," he said. "We want to unite young people around a new platform, a new model."

The main goal of the Congress is to create conditions for cooperation between young people of the countries located on the Great Silk Road, and organizations operating in the youth sphere, establishing closer links with representatives of different continents, religions, speaking different languages​​, having different cultures, contributing to the creation and development of intercultural dialogue and youth, he said.

While speaking at the Congress, the head of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration's Political Analysis and Information Provision Department, Elnur Aslanov, stressed that today Azerbaijani youth plays an important role in public life and the economy.

"Youth has become a leading force in our society," Aslanov said. "Using the potential of the young is one of the important issues of society. As the state develops, the youth becomes a subject of the most modern requirements."