Staff Reporter:
The city of Yekaterinburg, Russia is hosting the International Festival of Youth (IFY-2026) from September 11 to 17, bringing together 10,000 young leaders from 191 countries, including Bangla-desh.
Bangladesh’s participation is set to be substantial, with around 90 delegates planned to represent the country.
As part of the festival, from September 13 to 16, the ‘Media Stream’ program will be of particular interest to Bangladeshi delegates working in media, journalism, content creation, and creative in-dustries.
The program brings together leading bloggers, journalists, producers, scientists, and artists from around the world to discuss the future of the media industry.
Bangladeshi participants will have the opportunity to engage in panel discussions on pressing questions: What attracts young foreigners to Russia yesterday? Does culture really remain one of the key tools for promoting international dialogue? What research projects and Russian technolo-gies are in demand globally? And how can critical thinking and a value-based worldview be pre-served in the era of deepfakes and rapid social media spread?
The Bangladesh delegation among many others includes Halima Yesmin Mukta, a Master’s stu-dent in Tourism and Sports Management and a fully funded participant who plans to launch her own venture in Bangladesh.
“I feel immensely proud to showcase Bangladesh, its culture, and its potential on such a grand platform,” she said. Another delegate, Md Omar Faruk Joy, youth organizer from Cox’s Bazar and founder of We Can Cox’s Bazar, is proud to showcase Bangladesh’s culture and potential, while Joy looks forward to exchanging experiences and gaining inspiration for his community work.
India ranks among the top countries by the number of delegates (194), alongside Argentina, Brazil, China, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia. Among the confirmed Indian delegates is Amit Kothawade, who developed a COVID-19 contact-tracing app during the pandemic and now leads a startup ecosys-tem of 35,000 projects at a government agency.
Other Indian participants include Sultana Bilquis, a RUDN postgraduate student in Russian Litera-ture and cultural programme participant, and blogger Jaideep Sakhiya, a Skill India Master Trainer and founder of The Media Lab, who credits his participation in WYF 2024 as a turning point that inspired his focus on creating meaningful content, among many others.
The IFY-2026 follows a sector-based format, with participants representing eight professional fields: media, creative industries, public administration, science and education, sport, entrepre-neurship, digitalisation and IT, social sector.
Confirmed international guests include Christian Knapp (USA), conductor at the Mariinsky Thea-tre; pianist and blogger Lorenzo Bagnati (Italy); theater and film actor Aleksandar Radojičić (Ser-bia); President of TV BRICS Africa Ayanda Hollow (South Africa); film producer and director Liu Xuan (China), to name but a few, said a media release.
Key Russian speakers include Maria Zakharova, Official Spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Andrey Timonov, Director of the Communications Department of State Atomic En-ergy Corporation Rosatom; head of RT China Vsevolod Pulya; singer Tatyana Kurtukova; Aleksey Goreslavsky, Director General of the Internet Development Institute; Dmitry Uvarov, Director for Strategic Partnerships at VK, and pranksters Vovan and Lexus; among many others.
Highlights of the ‘Media Stream’ program will include a meet-the-artist session with a famous actor and producer Miloš Biković, who has starred in movies such as Red Silk, Serf, The Challenge, The Balkan Line, and Ice.
He will answer questions about the acting profession, trends in the film industry, and his connec-tion to Russia. The session will be moderated by acclaimed director, producer, and screenwriter Klim Shipenko.
The World Youth Festival took place in Sirius on March 1-7, 2024, by decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the development of international youth cooperation.
