2021 was an important year for BRYC. The youth council continued to become more integrated in the overall work of the Barents Cooperation structure through various meetings and events, such as the Barents Foreign Ministers meeting, the Barents Indigenous Peoples’ Summit, the Barents Youth Summit and the Finnish Presidency Event. By the initiative of the Chairmanships (Norway and Västerbotten), a new administrative system for BRYC was put in place by the end of 2021. In addition, the International Barents Secretariat (IBS) welcomed two new advisors on youth and indigenous issues, thanks to voluntary contributions by Finland and Norway. The strengthened administrative support has since then helped improve BRYC’s work capacity and increased the number of meetings/activities.

Welcome to the BRYC Annual Event 2021: Voices of Indigenous youth in Barents! After a year of pandemic, we are finally ready to meet with the Barents Youth family again. This time, we are hosting the first ever virtual annual event, which will be streamed from Kirkenes, Norway, on December 4th (12:00-16:00 GMT+1).