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PETROZAVODSK, September 15. /Correspondent of SPB-TASS Yuri Shleikin/. The visit of Prince Edward, the member of the Royal Family of the Great Britain and the youngest son of HM the Queen Elizabeth II, to the Republic of Karelia proceeds. He is one of the patrons of the Award international programme of personal development in which young people at the age of from 14 till 25 years old from 118 countries of the world participate.
Karelia became the first region in Russia where the new youth movement actively develops since 2001, and an overall objective of visit of the Prince's visit is acquaintance to realization of the program in our country. Today, on the third day of the visit, Prince Edward together with the Head of Karelia Sergey Katanandov has taken part in the conference the history and ways of development of the Award program were discussed.
Speaking of the purposes of the programme, Prince Edward has noted that its basic idea is that "one doesn't have to compete with anybody but oneself. If you are, for example, an athlete you may set up a hundred-meter race record, but on the conditions of the program the personal achievement should be repeated three times." Therefore, there are no uniform requirements to the participants of the programme, any young person can participate in it including people with limited opportunities. There are such participants in Karelia.
Speaking of development of the programme in Russia, His Royal Highness has told: "I am very much impressed with what I've seen here. It's a pleasure, that in Karelia young people originating from families with different prosperity and different educational level participate in the program, and that the program give all of them such opportunities of which they could not dream." There are four sections the programme consists of - civil service, tourism and expeditions, personal skills, and physical development.
In the afternoon the Prince has visited the town of Kondopoga where he has visited children's home kids from which participate in the programme actively. He has also met the Trustees' Board for Support of the Programme in Karelia Chairman Vitaly Federmesser, the largest pulp-and-paper plant director general. Tomorrow HRH The Prince Edward leaves Karelia.
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