Third Balkan Youth Festival

Youth on the Balkans

Gabrovo, August 20 -25, 1998

On August 20 - 25, 1998, Gabrovo for a third consecutive time hosted the festival of songs and dances, of friendship and understanding between the young people from the Balkan countries.

This year, too, initiators and organizers of the Youth on the Balkans Balkan Youth Festival were the young people and the Youth cultural and Information Center in Gabrovo, who believe that, if the first Balkan Youth Festival was the beginning and the second one proved the necessity of its existence, the third festival endorsed it as a tradition.

And if there were any doubts in the success of the festival, in his letter to the organizers and the participants Mr. Petar Stoyanov, President of Republic of Bulgaria, expressed his satisfaction of the fact that this year the festival will take place and will strengthen the achievements under the noble motto Youth on the Balkans today - future for Europe tomorrow! .

The students of economics from the National Association of Students of Economics AIESEC - Bulgaria (the biggest international NGO) had confidence in the organizers and became co-organizers of the new festival event - the Balkan Youth Business Forum. For two days young experts and students analyzed the topic Youth Unemployment and after learning that this is a common problem for all countries on the peninsula, adopted an appeal to the national institutions, NGOs and media from the Balkan countries.

The team of the Alma Mater radio station at the Technical University participated for a second time in a round-table on youth problems Partnership Now and in the Future. This year the round-table dedicated its work to the topic Anti-AIDS and Anti-Drugs as relevant to the young people in Bulgaria. Two specific projects were prepared at the round-table, and will be implemented in Gabrovo. Besides friendship, partnerships and business contacts were established.

The House of Humor and Satire hosted again the Merry Balkans cartoons and paintings exhibition which presented the art of the exceptional artist from Famagusta, Cyprus, Mr. Alper Susuzlu, who has been awarded more than 30 international awards from England, France, Ukraine, Macedonia, Turkey, Japan, etc. Mr. Susuzlu has also been awarded the Grand Prix of the Youth Cultural and Information Center at the Merry Balkans 96 competition.

The Etara open-air ethnographic museum gave the young people unforgettable experiences related to the Bulgarian traditions and followed by a sweet talk with white sweet and a new friend and a lot of fun.

The meadows around the Sokolski Monastery gathered the participants in the festival - more than 400 young people from all Balkan countries - at a picnic, where the scouts from the National Scouts Organization in Bulgaria had prepared pleasant surprises with games and amusement.

The festival nights at the summer theater and the presentation of the festival before Gabrovians at Vazrazhdane Square combined tradition and the future in the performances of young pop and rock singers, folklore groups from Saraevo (Bosna and Herzegovina), Rszeszov (Poland), Baya Mare (Romania), Karditsa (Greece), Istanbul and Bursa (Turkey), Yegunovtse (Macedonia), the Sivek, Bozhentsi and Gabrovo ensembles from Gabrovo, as well as the classical saxophone quartet from the city of Thun, Switzerland.

Balkan March to Europe was the motto of the festival procession. The participants in the festival went through the main streets of Gabrovo with The Train of the Balkans driven by the team of the Youth Cultural and Information Center. Festival participants were greeted with Welcome! in Turkish, Macedonian, Polish, Greek, Serbian and Romanian at the stops of the train where the ambassadors of The Youth on the Balkans danced and sang to achieve unity under the motto Youth on the Balkans Today - Future for Europe Tomorrow!

The mayor of Gabrovo, Mr. Nikolai Dachev, followed the tradition by taking under the white flag with the Balkan Youth Festival logo the official guests to the festival - Mr. John Tennant, USAID representative to Bulgaria, and Mr. Jerry Wood from the Local Government Initiative program of USAID. At the summer theater, all participants in the festival procession went under the BYF flag, which is a symbol of the unity and interaction between the Balkan people in their aspirations for united Europe.

On the background of the festival anthem We Are the World, the young Gabrovian Dimitar Zhechev, world champion from the mathematics Olympiad n Thailand, raised the festival flag which was carried in ceremonially by representatives of all cities participating in the festival.

The festival was opened by Mr. Ivan Nenov, chairman of the Festival Steering Committee and chairman of the Gabrovo Municipal Council.

The Third Balkan Youth Festival took place under the patronage of Mr. Ilian Obretenov, regional governor of the Lovech District, with financial support from the Committee for Youth, Physical Education and Sports with the Council of Ministers, and the Council of Europe.

Complimentary letters and wishes for success were received by Mrs. Emma Moskova, minister of culture, and Mr. Ricardo Venturini, Council of Europe representative.

The festival was sponsored by organizations and companies representing the private, public and third sectors: the United States Agency for International Development, the Information and Documentation Center of the Council of Europe in Veliko Turnovo, the Foundation for Local Government Reform, Stambouli - Bulgaria, Hlebozavod AG, Darik Radio, DSK - Gabrovo, EcoResurs AG, Blagoustroyavane, ET Stancho Kolev, Nozharov Ltd, Record AG, Plodproduct Ltd., Kapitan Dyado Nikola AG, 13 Centuries Bulgaria Regional Donors Fund.

The Third Balkan Youth Festival arose great interest and can be considered an unique forum of social and cultural cooperation between the young people from the Balkan countries. All those who support the festival ideas define his traditional annual gathering as a prerequisite for active participation of the youth in establishing a better climate on the Balkans, as well as for their accession to Europe.

The opinions and wishes of many of the participants, written in the festival guest book, have an exceptional value for the organizers:

Marina: I m very happy that I came to Gabrovo! What you do is unbelievable and wonderful!

Venelin: I am impressed by the enthusiasm and responsibility of the participants in the Balkan Youth Business Forum. I am leaving hopeful and enriched with many impressions.

Roumyana: May the beauty of your minds and good hearts help in the future for the love between nations! Thank you for allowing us share this joy.

ADDRESS

of the participants in the Balkan Youth Business Forum,

within the Third Balkan Youth Festival - Gabrovo 98,

on the problems of youth unemployment and entrepreneurship

to pubic institutions, NGOs and media from the Balkan countries

We, the participants in the Balkan Youth Business Forum, representatives of Greece, Bosna and Herzegovina, Turkey and Bulgaria,

Considering that we, the young people from the Balkan countries

• wish to play an active role in the building and development of a democratic society in our countries;
• wish to dismantle he internal and external spiritual borders between us by meeting each other and exchanging experience.

We reached the conclusion that this problem is common for all Balkan countries - the increase in unemployment among young people and economic emigration.

We identified the following factors that cause the problem and have a critical impact on youth unemployment and entrepreneurship:

• personal motivation, lack of individual experience and inconsistencies between theory and practice, as well as the lack of available information for the labor market;
• lack of coordination and interaction between the organizations and institutions which work to solve the problem in the changing economic and political environment in the Balkan countries;
• insufficiently implemented policy of the public institutions.

On the grounds of the above factors and after reaching an agreement on these major priorities, we appeal to you with proposals to:

- establishing an investment fund to create new jobs and encourage youth entrepreneurship;

- encouraging job creation for young people by providing economic concessions for the employers, including by part-time employment;

- development and support of entrepreneurship among the young people by means of financial preferences;

- making the educational system consistent with the requirements of the economy and the employers, by means of sponsorship contracts, internships, etc.;

- establishing a system for personnel references, etc.

We consider the Balkan Youth Festival, attracting new partners and the future cooperation important prerequisites for the successful integration of young people.