The First BRICS YEA Summit with support of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation was held on October, 4-6 as part of the “Russian Energy Week” International Forum 2018 in Moscow, Russia. The BRICS YEA Summit is considered to be a key youth forum on BRICS youth energy cooperation and development. The MGIMO University, the National Research University “MPEI”, the Global Energy Association and the Organizing Committee of the “Russian Energy Week” International Forum (“Smena Foundation”) were involved as organisation partners. The official partners of the summit are Russian oil&gas companies – Zarubezhneft JSC and Tatneft JSC.

The solemn opening ceremony took place in the MGIMO University. Deputy Foreign Minister, Russian Sherpa in BRICS Sergei Ryabkov sent a welcoming speech to the delegates of the summit. Other participants of the opening ceremony were Mikhail Kalugin, Head of the BRICS Devision, Foreign Policy Planning Department, Pavel Velikanov, Head of Devision, Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Energy of Russian Federation, Grigory Petushkov, Head of the National Council of Youth and Children Associations of Russia, Valeria Gorbacheva, Adviser to the National Committee for BRICS Research, First Secretaries of Embassy of South Africa, Brazil and India. Dmitry Zhuvakin, Deputy Director of the International Institute of Energy Policy and Diplomacy (MIEP) welcomed the delegates on behalf of the MGIMO University. Senior representatives of the Indian universities and institutes took part in the Summit.

In the course of the first day of the Summit various discussions on the global trends of BRICS energy development were held – digitalisation of the fuel and mining industry and sustainable energy development of the member countries. Manpreet Singh Manna, Director (PMSSS & SWAYAM), All-India Сouncil for Technical Education, Indian Government, highlighted the importance of innovations which are subject to timely implementation. Pavel Velikanov, Head of Division, Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, upheld the thesis and explained which sectors of the world fuel and mining industry will be subject to digital transformation. Sustainable energy was a topic of a round-table with participation of Leonid Grigoryev, BRICS YEA Expert Council Member, Chief Adviser to the Head of the Analytical Center for the Government of the Russian Federation. First Secretaries of Embassy of South Africa, Brazil and India in Russian Federation and representatives of educational and public organisations participated on the discussion called “Horizon 2020: BRICS Youth Energy Cooperation and BRICS YEA Development Action Plan”.

The second day of the Summit was held in the National Research University “MPEI” and was titled “Digitalisation Tendencies in the BRICS Electricity”.  The participants were welcomed by Sergey Shirinsky, Head of External Relations Department of the university, Alexander Voloshin, Head of Department of Relay Protection and Automation of Power-Systems , Vladimir Karantaev, Head of the Working Group of the Committee D2 CIGRE and Maria Zelenyak, Vice-President of the Global Energy Association. BRICS delegates presented their reports on electricity digitalisation and pointed out the main barriers to implementing digital technologies in their countries. Nikolay Rogalev, Rector of NRU “MPEI”, also welcomed the delegates at the summit. The Youth Section of the Russian National Committee CIRGE was the organisation partner of the second day.

The Global Energy Association’s Scientific and Practical Symposium “Energy of Thought” as part of the BRICS YEA Summit in Moscow was the highlight of the day. Global Energy Prize Laureates 2018 Sergei Alekseenko and Martin Greene were the speakers. 6 projects of young scientists were presented at the Symposium and assessed by the Laureates and BRICS YEA Summit senior guest, Dr. Gopal Mugeraya, Director, National Institute of Technology of Goa (India).

The final day of the Summit took place in the Central Exposition Center «Manezh» within the Youth Day #BrighterTogether of the «Russian Energy Week» international Forum. Olga Yudina, Deputy Head of Department, Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, spoke at the BRICS YEA Summit’s Final Session and shared her positive view on the future of the youth agency. Igbal Guliev, Deputy Director of the International Institute of Energy Policy and Diplomacy (MIEP) emphasized the importance of such youth initiatives and announced the readiness of the MGIMO University to support the Agency in its «congress» activities. Maria Zeleniak, Vice-President of the Global Energy Association upheld his statement and added that «the youth is the intellectual future of the countries».

An informal meeting of the Global Energy Prize Laureates 2018 with the BRICS YEA Summit delegates was conducted in collaboration with the Global Energy Association. At the end of the meeting Alexander Ignatov, Acting President, the Global Energy Association, and Alexander Kormishin, Chairman, the BRICS Youth Energy Agency, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation.

During the final session of the Youth Day called “Energy of Youth Initiatives 2019” chaired by Anton Inyutsyn, Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation and Roman Kamaev, Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, , Chairman of the BRICS Youth Energy Agency Alexander Kormishin announced the initiative of the Agency to release in 2019 an international youth energy outlook in collaboration with the BRICS research and scientific centers. In response the Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Mr. Inyutsyn encouraged everybody present to join the Agency in order to consolidate efforts of the young scientists and researchers.

The Youth Model “Sustainable Energy of the Russian Federal Districts” also was held as part of the BRICS YEA Summit. Students of the Gubkin University, the MGIMO University and the Financial University presented road maps of sustainable energy for the Russian federal districts. Professional jury took part in projects evaluation. The National Centre of Engineering Contests, National Technical Initiative Marinet and other eminent public organizations were partners of the model.

The plenary discussion «India and Russia: Horizons of Strategic Energy Cooperation» was the closing event of the Summit. Heads of the leading educational institutions of India, including JIS University, C.V. Raman College of Engineering, National Institute of Technology and the others took part in the discussion. In presence of Radjagopalan Narayanan, First Secretary of the Embassy of the Republic of India, and Sergey Nikitin, Adviser, India Division, Second Asian Department (2AD), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, a Memorandum of Cooperation between BRICS YEA and the public organisation «BRICS International Forum» was signed. Purnima Anand, President of the BRICS International Forum, highlighted the strategic nature of the cooperation with BRICS YEA and encouraged the educational institutions present to develop cooperation with the youth agency. To support Ms. Anand’s idea Dr. Gopal Mugeraya, Director, National Institute of Technology of Goa, suggested to held the next meeting of the agency members within the Institute.