On July 23, 2026, an official ceremony was held in Kapan, Republic of Armenia, during which the city was awarded the honorary status of CIS Youth Capital.
One of the ceremony highlights was the official cancellation of a commemorative postage stamp from Armenian Heritage series. The stamp has a face value of 320 drams and depicts the cityscape of Kapan together with Mount Khustup, the city’s symbol. Throughout the year, the new CIS Youth Capital will host cultural and educational events bringing together participants from across the Commonwealth.
“We are striving to ensure that young people in every city of our country understand that they live in the most wonderful place in the world and that there is no need to leave it in search of a better life. We considered many factors before nominating Kapan as the CIS Youth Capital: its rich cultural and historical heritage, its status as a regional administrative center and the wide range of government-funded projects being implemented here. We also considered the ethnopsychological characteristics of the local population,” said Artur Martirosyan, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Armenia and Chairman of the CIS Council on Youth Affairs.
On July 24, Kapan hosted a meeting of the CIS Council on Youth Affairs.
The meeting was attended by representatives of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, the CIS basic organizations for youth work and for the development of the volunteer movement, as well as the CIS Executive Committee.
The Council’s members participated in the ceremonial event marking the implementation of the CIS Youth Capital international project and in the presentation of the Council’s Certificates of Honor. They also met with the participants of the CIS Youth Public Organizations Forum and familiarized themselves with Kapan’s youth infrastructure.
During the meeting, the participants:
- Reviewed information on:
- youth policy in Armenia, noting the adoption of the Law on Youth Policy in 2025 and the country’s positive experience in establishing youth centers;
- cooperation in supporting the volunteer movement within the framework of the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development in partnership with the UN Volunteers Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia;
- ongoing efforts of the CIS member states to promote healthy lifestyle among young people including through the Action Plan for the Preparation and Holding of the Year of Health Protection in the Commonwealth of Independent States in 2026.
- Discussed:
- Progress in implementing the 2025–2026 Action Plans under the Strategy for International Youth Cooperation and the Concept for the Development of Cooperation in Supporting the Youth Volunteer Movement;
- Preparations for the First CIS Volunteers Forum, to be held in Astana on August 20–21, 2026, under the theme Unity through Volunteering: Partnership, Trust and Development;
- Uzbekistan’s initiative to organize a CIS Youth Forum and establish a Youth Laboratory.
- Approved:
- the draft Action Plan for the Implementation of the CIS Youth Capital International Project in Minsk in 2027;
- decisions to award the Council’s Certificates of Honor to representatives of the CIS member states who have made significant personal contributions to strengthening and developing international youth cooperation.
- Exchanged experience on:
- organizing the national stage of the 100 Ideas for the CIS International Youth Project. It was decided that the international (final) stage of the project including an exhibition-presentation and a competition of original projects will be held in the Kyrgyz Republic in October 2027;
- current issues of youth policy.
On July 23 to 25, Kapan also hosted the 11th CIS Youth Public Organizations Forum.
The Forum, which has become one of the flagship projects of international youth cooperation within the Commonwealth, brought together delegations from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
The CIS Council on Youth Affairs is committed to continuously improving its work with young people and therefore places particular emphasis on obtaining regular feedback from youth. One of the key mechanisms for achieving this goal is the CIS Youth Public Organizations Forum, which Regulations were approved in 2018. A number of joint youth initiatives currently being implemented across the Commonwealth were the first proposed during previous editions of the Forum.
The main theme of this edition of the Forum was the role of young citizens and their potential in strengthening cooperation among CIS member states.