Brussels, 05/01/2000 (Agence Europe) - On an invitation from Japanese Education Minister Hirofuni Nakasone, the G8 education ministers and Mrs Viviane Reding, European Education and Culture Commissioner, are to hold a summit meeting on 1 and 2 April in Tokyo. They plan to discuss, above all, questions relating to student exchanges, distance learning, innovation and information technologies applied to education. Mrs Reding expressed the wish that the question of cooperation on quality assessment and school education should be included on the agenda of ministerial work (we recall that Mrs Reding had, at the end of last year, announced that the Commission would be preparing a recommendation in this connection at European level - See EUROPE of 14 December 99). As far as the European side is concerned, Mrs Reding recalled that EU cooperation with the United States and Canada was already well developed on educational matters, both for joint communiqués and the selection of cooperation projects in this field.
The G8 composed of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, the United States, Canada, Japan and Russia) has been chaired by Japan since the beginning of the year, for a one year period.