Russia’s bid for hosting 2017 World Youth Festival approved

MOSCOW, November 11. /TASS/. Russia’s bid for hosting the 2017 World Festival of Youth and Students was approved by the general assembly of the World Federation of Democratic Youth convened in Havana, the Russian Youth Organization’s head said on Wednesday. According to Sergei Pospelov, the final decision will be taken in the end of January, following the visit of federation’s officials to Moscow and Sochi in order to assess the readiness of the country to host the festival. "The Russian bid was carefully worked out and prepared," Pospelov said. "Today we can be sure that the interest to Russia is currently at a high level." "Russia’s youth policy will get a new development impulse, moreover, young people from all across the globe will be able to get closer ties with modern Russia and Russians," he said. The first World Youth Festival in the series took place in Prague in 1947. The largest event was staged in 1957 in Moscow, when 34,000 young people from 131 countries assembled. Russia's capital hosted the festival again in 1985. The most recent, in 2013, gathered in Quito, Ecuador. Read more