The opening ceremony of the “I Republican Virtual Debate Championship” was held with the financial support of the Youth Foundation of the Republic of Azerbaijan and organized by the “Debate in Civil Society” Public Union. The opening ceremony was attended by Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports Intigam Babayev, Executive Director of the Youth Foundation Farid Jafarov, MPs Ramin Mammadov, Vugar Isgandarov, Mushfig Jafarov and Shahin Seyidzade, Chairman of the Debate in Civil Society Public Union Ulviya Akhundova, organization leaders, representatives and more than 200 young people.

In her opening speech at the online event, Ulviya Akhundova, Chairperson of the Debate in Civil Society Public Union, informed about the organization’s activities, programs, goals and directions of the project and thanked the participants.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Azerbaijan Intigam Babayev spoke about the role of debate in youth development, programs and projects implemented jointly with the Debate in Civil Society Public Union and stressed the success of cooperation.

During his speech, Executive Director of the Youth Foundation of the Republic of Azerbaijan Farid Jafarov informed about the debate, support for oratory activities, projects implemented by the Youth Foundation for youth development and wished success to all project participants.

During their speeches, the deputies of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan spoke about the importance of events held with the participation of young people in accordance with the challenges of the pandemic period, the importance of youth development and the role of the organization in youth life.

It should be noted that the aim of the project is to create conditions for young people to increase their knowledge and research skills about the COVID-19 pandemic through debate, develop public speaking skills and form a unity and team spirit.

The online championship, which is attended by more than 500 young people, will feature debate and public speaking training with the participation of professional trainers, as well as topic discussions with experts. In the end, a debate tournament will be held with the participation of youth teams from different cities and regions of the country.

The project partners are the National Debate Program and the GencApp mobile application, which combines information about various useful opportunities, services, events and projects for young people.