EU-China youth eye the future
- By Lu Na
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China.org.cn, October 26, 2011
The closing meeting of the China Youth Leaders Summit, the last flagship event of the 2011 EU-China Year of Youth was held Monday in Beijing.
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Chinese and European officials attend the meeting and answer questions. [China.org.cn] |
The EU-China Year of Youth aimed to promote intercultural dialogue and strengthen mutual understanding and friendship between European and Chinese youth.
Lu Yongzheng, Vice President of All-China Youth Federation, and Androulla Vassiliou, the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, attended the meeting and answered questions from EU-China youth delegates.
"Youth is an important group in people-to-people exchange. The dialogue of EU-China youth connects the EU-China future relationship," Lu said. "The 2011 EU-China Year of Youth opens the new chapter of EU-China people-to-people exchange as well as provides experience for the higher level people-to-people exchange system."
"This shouldn't be a one-off program; we can't just pack up and say goodbye. We have more responsibility to push the political and economic development of EU-China," Vassiliou said. "I'd like to see your suggestions and promises. I believe the 2012 EU-China Year of Intercultural Dialogue will be as successful as the EU-China Year of Youth."
Commenting on policies that could improve the volunteering program, Vassiliou said that successful volunteers are studious and like to get involved. She said volunteering work improves skills and builds confidence, and the program helps volunteers learn teamwork and the decision making process.
Lu said the organizations will hold another dialogue next year to promote the cooperation of European and Chinese youth. He said he hopes for the cooperation between youth organizations in European countries and China's provinces that will further strengthen their bond.
Lu added that with the fast development of globalization, China now has nearly 500 million web users, and over 70 percent of them are young people. He said the organization is preparing to build a media platform that will help them better connect with one another.
Two representatives of the youth delegates presented event organizers a statement that resulted from two days of forum discussions between the delegates. The EU-China Youth Leaders Statement acknowledged the achievements of the 2011 EU-China Year of Youth event through the implementation of over 100 programs with large-scale participation and broad outreach. It also expressed appreciation of the contributions from the European Commission, the All-China Youth Federation and the European Youth Forum in the implementation of the event. The statement said the Year of Youth strengthened partnerships of the two regions' youth organizations.
Participants of the EU-China Youth Leaders Summit urged the Chinese government, the European Commission and EU members to take into account the event's concluding opinions and suggestions on issues such as the development of youth business leaders and the role of young people in aging societies.
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