Brussels, 27/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - Education ministers from the 56 member states of the ASEM dialogue are meeting up on Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 April in Riga for the 5th ASEM meeting on education. On 27 April, the Latvian presidency was pleased to announce that the meeting “has started in the spirit of tangible outcomes of this strengthened cooperation between the two regions. New bilateral agreements have already been signed between China and Estonia, as well as China and Lithuania and more agreements will be signed later on”.
During the two-day meeting, participants are also expected to discuss the importance of better training for acquiring skills that are relevant to the labour market (improving employability), “MOOC” - Massive Open Online Courses, as well as the quality of higher education, involving industry in the education field, mobility and lifelong training. “Education has always been an impetus for sustainable development and it is even more so today, when people and their intellectual baggage can travel easier. To use the full potential of this new Silk Road in education, skills development as well as information and communication technology have to be incorporated in our work programme”, explained the Chair of the meeting, the Latvian Minister for Education and Science.
The partners are also expected to assess the results of the collaboration between the EU-Asia in the education field since the beginning of cooperation between them in 2008. At the end of the meeting they will adopt conclusions outlining the work programme for the next two years. The next meeting will take place in South Korea in 2017. (Isabelle Lamberty)