Brussels, 05/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Union and China plan to work more closely together in education, culture and youth policy as well as new areas including gender equality and efforts to address violence against women, eth Europpean Commission announced on Thursday 4 September. These are among potential new priority areas for the “High-Level-People-to-People Dialogue” (HPPD) between the EU and China, which aims to build trust and understanding between the peoples of the two regions. Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, will meet Chinese Vice-Premier Liu Yandong in Beijing on 6 September to take stock of the HPPD's achievements since its launch two years ago. The two leaders will also discuss other areas where the EU and China could expand cooperation, including greater participation of Chinese institutions in the U-Multirank university ranking and a new project to promote cultural festivals in China. During her talks with Vice-Premier Liu, the commissioner is also expected to highlight the opportunities available to Chinese students and researchers through Erasmus+, the EU's new programme for education, training, youth and sport, and from the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, under the Horizon 2020 programme. Vassiliou will also address students at Xi'an Jiao Tong University, which is involved in the EU-China “Tuning” initiative aimed at increasing the compatibility of education systems and overcoming obstacles to mobility.
Over the past decade the EU and China have closely cooperated in the areas of education, training, culture, multilingualism and youth through sector-focused policy dialogues. On the occasion of the 16th EU-China Summit in Beijing on 21 November 2013, the two parties adopted the EU-China 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation, which included a chapter devoted to people-to-people exchanges. This year's visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Brussels (31 March-1 April) added to the momentum for strengthening the links between the EU and China, the Commission noted. (IL)