International Conference of European Youth Parliament to discuss Rail Baltica project this week

RIGA - The 96th International Conference of the European Youth Parliament will gather more than 200 young people from 30 different European countries this week in Riga to discuss the importance of technology and digitization in modern European society; one of the topics of discussion is the future of the European transport industry and Rail Baltica, as RB Rail representatives informed LETA.

For nine days, the youth teams will discuss and work on finding solutions to problematic issues on the agenda of the European Union, such as automation in the labor market, modern transport development and the use of drones in military conflicts.

During the conference, the ideas expressed by the participants will be collected and adapted to everyday life by a team of experienced and competent experts, including Martins Zemitis, deputy head at the Representation of the European Commission in Latvia, Ance Jaks, development manager of the Iespejama Misija foundation, Ricards Krizanovskis, co-founder of the personnel management technology company UpMatched, associate lawyer of the organization's refugee agency at United Nations Kari Kaspers, researcher at the University of Cambridge and an expert of the NATO Strategic Communication Center, Tomass Pildegovics and others.

For young people to have the opportunity to create a dialogue with experts in various fields, a discussion evening will be organized on July 27 in the premises of the University of Latvia. In cooperation with the Rail Baltica project, one of the panel discussions, also broadcasted online, will focus on the future of the European transport industry and Rail Baltica in particular.

Speakers of the panel will include Arturs Caune, member of the management board at Eiropas Dzelzcela Linijas, European Parliament member Ivars Ijabs, Karlis Bumeisters, political advisor at the European Parliament, Sara Bitnere, European Youth Parliament communications manager, Valters Piepins, Discover EU 2022 participant, and moderator of the discussion Signe Groza, international affairs manager at RB Rail AS.

"We are very happy to share young perspectives with Rail Baltica on this important project. Particularly, young people are the ones who are calling for more sustainable means of transportation and will be using these services in the future. Youth as an active part of civil society need to be heard and included in decision-making processes as well as policymaking. The European Youth Parliament (EYP) strives to include young people from all socio-economic backgrounds, genders, ethnicities, and locations and to create a platform for dialogue between young people and societal stakeholders. With its mission to connect young Europe, through events such as the Riga 2022 International Session, the EYP relies a lot on affordable and sustainable cross-border connectivity," said Bitnere.

Link to the online discussion: https://fb.me/e/3qG4JVJuK