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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

New stage in Sino-European relations: EU-China Year of Youth in 2011

On January 11th, 2011, Ms. Vassiliou, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, and Wang Xiao, president of the All-China Youth Federation, met in Brussels to inaugurate EU-China Year of Youth. 200 young people from EU Member States and China will attend the event, including the German fencer Britta Heidemann, Olympic champion in Beijing in 2008, ambassador to be for youth during this EU-China Year of Youth. The objective of the EU-China Year of Youth is to promote dialogue and cooperation, especially in the field of culture through meetings between young Europeans and Chinese. On this occasion, Commissioner Vassiliou and Mr. Wang Xiao will sign a joint declaration establishing a political dialogue in the field of youth.Androulla Vassiliou declared that the EU-China Year of Youth would open up new horizons for the young people by enabling them to share experiences and learn from each other. The Commissioner hopes that such exchanges would inspire concrete ideas for cooperation and establish long-lasting partnerships.

Wang Xiao said the Year would provide an interactive platform for European and Chinese young people to enhance mutual understanding and friendship through creativity, tolerance and openness. EU and China hope they can open a new page of people-to-people contacts between Europe and China.

The opening ceremony for the Year takes place in the Charlemagne building (14:30). It will be followed by the signing of the joint declaration and a panel discussion on 'the EU-China Year of Youth as a tool to promote dialogue and mutual understanding'.

The EU-China Year of Youth 2011 was designated at the 12th EU-China summit held in Nanjing in November 2009. In October 2010 Commissioner Vassiliou and the Vice President of the All-China Youth Federation signed a joint action plan for the EU-China Year of Youth. This defined a general framework for the year, which will include several flagship events in the EU and China.

It also lays the basis for a policy dialogue with regular exchanges on youth-related issues including voluntary activities, in particular linked to the 2011 European Year of Volunteering, youth employment and entrepreneurship, youth involvement in society, and youth work development. Seminars, workshops and expert meetings will be jointly organized in the future. The joint declaration complements previous accords in education and vocational training (2007), culture (2007) and multilingualism (2009).

Youth in Action

The EU Youth in Action programme, which has an annual budget of around € 140 million, offers funding for non-formal learning, volunteering abroad and the development of the youth sector beyond the EU borders. Every year more than 140 000 young people benefit from it. Since 2007, around a dozen projects involving young people from the EU and China received support. The projects promote dialogue, tolerance, intercultural awareness and solidarity, aimed at breaking down prejudices and stereotypes. A € 3 million call for proposals for international youth projects, which will include a special focus on China, will be published in February 2011.

The EU-China Year of Youth is the start of a series of themed years in EU-China relations. 2012 has been designated as the EU-China Year of Intercultural Dialogue.

Source  European Commission - Education and Culture DG

More information  Press room - European Commission

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