Press Release: 2011 EU-China Year of Youth: new horizons for cooperation and dialogue

Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, and Wang Xiao, President of the All-China Youth Federation, opened the EU-China Year of Youth in Brussels on 11 January 2011, in the presence of 200 young people from the EU and China. They included the EU-China youth ambassador, Britta Heidemann, Germany's 2008 Olympic fencing champion in Beijing. Commissioner Vassiliou and Mr Wang Xiao signed a joint declaration establishing a policy dialogue in youth affairs.

The EU-China Year of Youth aims to strengthen and expand people-to-people contacts, intercultural dialogue, mutual understanding and cooperation. It offers opportunities for young Europeans and Chinese to meet, exchange and learn from each other during 2011 and beyond.