On the International Youth Day, which Ukraine will celebrate next year together with the whole world community, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the winners of the largest all-Ukrainian flash mob #IamUkraineNow, which took place within the Ukraine NOW promotional campaign.
To take part in the flash mob, which started last year, young Ukrainians had to record a video lasting up to one minute, in which they talk about love for Ukraine or share suggestions on how to change the life of the country for the better.
For almost nine months, Ukrainian youth from different parts of the country and the world shared their videos on social networks. At the beginning of August 2021, ten winners were chosen and got the opportunity to communicate on the most important topics with the Head of State. Among the authors of the best videos are schoolchildren, students and young scientists working abroad.
During the meeting with the President, the boys and girls presented their videos, in which they shared what it means for them to be Ukrainian, told personal stories, dreams and plans. They also told what prompted them to participate in the flash mob, how they chose the topics of the videos, how the videos were created, and what they do to change the life of Ukraine for the better.
For his part, the Head of State shared the government's plans to work more actively with progressive and talented youth, and spoke about the support programs that will be implemented in Ukraine in the near future.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy recalled the idea of creating the Presidential University, the launch of which is scheduled for 2023. He noted that the institution should become a modern innovative educational and research center that will train leaders for strategic areas of state development, and an important component of the educational process will be the acquisition of practical skills in modern laboratories.
The Head of State also spoke about a number of steps aimed at economic development, about digitization and the recently signed basic law that will stimulate the development of the digital economy in Ukraine. Among other things, this document introduces and defines the principles of the "Diia City" legal regime, which provides for special conditions of taxation. These conditions will be envisaged by the Tax Code of Ukraine.
"We will have the best tax conditions for the IT sector. Some of the best in the world. We are developing in this direction," the President stated.
Summing up the meeting, the young people noted the simplicity and informality of communication with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. At the same time, many were impressed by the President's awareness of the life of their regions and the desire to help solve existing problems there.
"We talked freely on various topics, he wrote down our proposals to help our regions, our cities. There is even more motivation because you see that your efforts are not in vain. That you won this competition, you came, the President knows about you," said Dmytro Shulha from Lozova, Kharkiv region. He said that thanks to today's meeting he learned a lot about the Head of State.
The Ph.D. in Slavonic Studies Section at Cambridge University and a strategic management consultant at the London office of McKinsey Maria Molodyk was most impressed by the fact that the President came to the meeting with a notebook and noted down the story of each participant, the problems that concern them.
"It seemed that not only did we come to talk to him - he came to talk to us. He came to hear us," said Maria Molodyk.
According to her, an important result of the meeting was the opportunity to discuss the next steps with the Head of State.
"What can we do today to bring small and then big changes to Ukraine? This is very important for me," said the winner of the flash mob.
Young people expressed confidence that such meetings are extremely useful, as they encourage young people to participate in various projects and motivate them to win.
Mykola Zlobin from Chernihiv said that he took part in the flash mob #IamUkraineNow, because he wanted to prove to young people by the example of his success that we have everything to create projects at the level of Uber or Tesla in Ukraine. We can reach the world scale by our own work. The most important thing for this is to dream and take action.
"For me, this meeting was a huge motivation to become better, because I saw how meticulously the President treats and snatches every detail, how he elaborates on every issue in detail. For me and for each participant of the meeting, it will be a step forward in order to get a little closer to the President, to his level," he said after the meeting.
