Brussels, 04/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - From 31 March to 2 April, 500 teachers and 120 pupils are meeting in Budapest to share ideas for future eTwinning initiatives and to celebrate the eight best eTwinning projects of the year, involving schools from Austria, Cyprus, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Turkey. The eTwinning scheme was set up by the European Commission seven years ago. More than 130,000 teachers in 31 countries take part and use information and communication technology (ICT) to set up cross-border educational projects. “The eTwinning initiative has been a success story from the start. It promotes learning and creativity, as well as giving young people a sense of pride in being 'European'. eTwinning has no fixed agenda - it includes everything from encouraging youngsters to use their school library to promoting language learning. Above all, it's about using ICT to help children achieve their full potential”, said European Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou. The eight winning projects were selected from more than over 300 submissions. (I.L./transl.rt)