The theme of this year’s rally is “Think globally, Act locally”.

The rally is organized by European Rural Youth international organization and the Council of Europe’s European Youth Foundation. Participating in the rally will be 5 delegates of rural youth organizations from European countries, as well as representatives of local authorities and the Swedish state apparatus.

According to the organizers, local and European rural communities face almost the same problems, including low youth participation in public life, lack of employment opportunities, minimum amount of information, as well as social-economic issues. The purpose of the annual “European Rally-2010” is to help the youth try to find possible solutions to the mentioned issues in their rural communities through exchange of experience.

The youth will be introduced to creative ideas, methods and activities for innovative rural development and innovative methods to help develop the villages and the lifestyles of the youth.

Armenia’s rural youth will also be participating in the rally in order to, as they say, “show themselves and let others see”. In addition to acquiring knowledge, they will present Armenian song, dance and national costumes, local products such as milk, pastry, traditional meals, as well as Armenian apricots and peaches.

Gayane Martirosyan