Vladimir Putin: My goodness there are a lot of you! Good evening!

Representatives from a most diverse range of youth organisations have gathered here today. These are people who have their own opinions about the challenges we face in our country's development and in the development of science and education. These people differ in many ways. But there is something that unites us all. It is something that we have, you and I, inherited, and each one of us is a part of it. And that is, of course, our country. The Russia that we so love. And of course we love it! Of course we love it, and of course we want to see it become brighter, more beautiful, more bountiful, and stronger. And we know that we can make it happen. We also know it is no simple task. But it is our choice, it is a challenge that stands before us, and we will rise to it, won't we?

Why have we gathered here, at Seliger, this year? In order to support innovation, to support those who think creatively in beautiful, unconventional ways. Young people have always been capable of generating new ideas, of finding ingenious solutions to even the most difficult problems. And perhaps, that is why young people sometimes say that they know best. But perhaps, it's true? Perhaps, after all, they really do, because you are the most talented, and intelligent people, aren't you?

Forum participants: Yes! Yes! 

Vladimir Putin: Gotcha! There's a saying in the army for moments like this: If you're so bright then why aren't you marching straight. But that really is a very old joke. It's outdated because in the modern world, a country's defence capability does not depend on the number of men it can mobilise, the number of planes, tanks, submarines, rocket launchers, or even rockets it has. A country's economic power is not defined by the number of factories, plants, the area it has under cultivation, or even great mineral reserves. In today's world, a state's power, its competitive ability is defined above all by its ability to innovate, its receptiveness to all that is new, cutting edge, and progressive. It is young people who have always been the source of this, with their inexhaustible, ever replenishing energy. And that is what we need today if Russia is to flourish. That is how it always was, how it is, and how it always will be. Is that right?

Forum participants: Yeeeeees!

Vladimir Putin: Thank you for your support. And today, here, I can say without exaggeration, quite simply - thank you all, ours and yours... I wish you success and happiness!