CRI听力:Youth communication essential for SCO countries' development

Established in Beijing in April this year, the SCO Countries Youth League is an independent, non-profit, and inclusive organization.

Chinese-Russian Victoria Khu, who currently studies journalism at Tsinghua University in Beijing, is one of the co-founders of the league.

As she speaks of the founding principles of the SCO, she says that the Youth League's main purpose is to provide a communication platform for young people to engage in dialogue and share wisdom.

"We've been engaged in an activity session called 'discussion club,' in which we invite over experts from different areas, who are mostly from SCO countries, to share their experience. We can also raise questions to them. In this way, we can better understand the economies, politics, and cultures of SCO countries."

Pakistani student Nishat Kazmi is currently pursuing a graduate degree, focusing on Chinese foreign policies at Peking University.

Attracted by the Youth League's founding ideas, he recently became a member.

"I have recently become aware of the Youth League. I'm not a former member of the SCO Youth League. But I am very interested in the activities and ideas because Pakistan recently became a member of the SCO. While I was in Beijing at the headquarters of the SCO, I was told that this was an excellent opportunity to learn more about the work of the organization and also meet young people that are interested in the organization."

Talking about the activities at the SCO Youth League, Kazmi says his most memorable experience is his meeting with the SCO Secretary-General, who emphasized youth communication.

According to Kazmi, youth communication is essential to the development of SCO countries.

"I think youth are very important stake-holders in these countries. If you look at the SCO countries, like in India and Pakistan a significant proportion of the population is comprised of young people. I think it's important that the activities designed by the SCO also targets young people."

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is scheduled to attend a leader's summit of the SCO in Russia's Sochi.

Victoria Khu says people-to-people exchanges will be highlighted at the meeting.

"The meeting will cover economics, trade, cultural and people-to-people exchanges. I think young people are an important part of the cooperation on cultural and people-to-people exchanges. The SCO countries are also Belt and Road countries. So I think now is a good opportunity for the young people to further enhance their friendships."

Founded by several young people, the Youth League now has members from eight core countries of the SCO - namely China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Khu says she expects more youth representatives within the SCO to join the league.

For CRI, I'm Guan Chao.