Youth must be actively involved with fight against xenophobia & discrimination: Azerbaijani minister

“There are 70 ethnic communities in Azerbaijan who worship different religions. The fight against xenophobia and discrimination, enhancing international cooperation in this direction and involvement of young people in this regard is very important,” Rahimov said in his remarks at the opening of the Summer School of the Standing Committee of the Council of Europe for Work with Youth in Baku.

The minister also called on youth NGOs to get involved with the summer school. “I am sure that the change in the format of the summer school and youth NGOs’ involvement to this work would be productive,” he said.

In turn, the head of the Council of Europe Secretariat for Youth and Sport Rene Weingartner stressed importance of implementation of so-called Baku Initiative, aimed at combating religious discrimination and launched by the Azerbaijan Ministry of Youth and Sport, by European countries.

The summer school to last from August 25 to 28 aims to deepen ties of international cooperation of the Azerbaijani youth, discuss strategy of the European Union in the sphere of youth policy and cooperation with the CoE and the EU in this field. The forum will be attended by the representatives of the Council of Europe Secretariat and representatives of ministries and youth organizations of European countries.

/Interfax Azerbaijan/