On September 21, 2020, the official closing of the Online Forum: “Youth, friendship, intercultural dialogue” was held within the framework of the project "Kyrgyzstan's youth cohesion and interaction towards Uzbekistan ", which is funded by the UN Peacebuilding Fund. The closing ceremony was attended by representatives of the State Agency for Youth Affairs, Physical culture and sport under the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Agency for Youth Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan, UN Resident Coordinator in the Kyrgyz Republic Ozonnia Ojielo, as well as representatives of UNICEF, UNICEF, UNDP in the Kyrgyz Republic.

The UN Resident Coordinator in the Kyrgyz Republic, Ozonnia Ojielo, in his welcoming speech, congratulated participants of the event on the International Day of Peace. The focus of this year’s International Day of Peace is “Shaping Peace Together.” Ozonnia Ojielo emphasized the important role of young people in sustaining peace and thanked participants of the online forum for their active participation.

The results of the activities were presented to attendees during the closing of the forum. Online forum: “Youth, friendship, intercultural dialogue”, which lasted for one month, was aimed at creating an online dialogue platform for strengthening youth cooperation. More than 100 young participants from the age of 16 to 20 years from the border regions of Kyrgyzstan and students from Uzbekistan living and studying in Kyrgyzstan took part in the events within the framework of the forum. The forum included interesting webinars with speakers from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, live broadcasts with celebrities of the two countries in social networks, and an online conference on strengthening cooperation between young people in the border areas. In addition, various competitions and online marathons were organized through which young people were able to express their position on strengthening cooperation in a creative form: music, dance, essays, etc.

The Forum was an excellent starting point for bringing together the youth at the border areas of both countries and promoting youth diplomacy in the region. Young people from the border areas have learned that today young people play a huge role in promoting sustainable peace. As the forum participants note, the most important thing they have gained is friends. "In friendship there is no concept of nationality, friendship has no borders, thanks to the forum we have found friends, and this is the most valuable thing! » - shared one of the participants of the initiative, Emina Ibragimova (15 years old).

Online forum: “Youth, friendship, intercultural dialogue” was held under the leadership Of the State Agency for Youth and Sport under the Government of the Kyrgyz Rebulic in partnership with the NGO "Youth of Osh", IDEA CA with technical support from UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA and funding from the UN Peacebuilding Fund within the framework of the project " Kyrgyzstan's youth cohesion and interaction towards Uzbekistan”.

The goal of the project “Kyrgyzstan's youth cohesion and interaction towards Uzbekistan” is to promote the ideas of peace, tolerance and good neighborhood among young people. For ten months, young activists from Batken, Jalal-Abad and Osh regions have been developing communities and promoting solutions to current problems in their communities through local initiative groups.