Brussels, 30/03/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commissioner responsible for Education, Viviane Reding, will represent the Commission at the meeting of the G8 education Ministers organised by the Japanese Presidency from the 1 to 3 April in Tokyo. As previously announced (see EUROPE of 6 January, p.6), this first meeting of the Ministers for Education in the framework of the G8 (France, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, United States, Canada, Japan and Russia) made following the "Charter on lifelong education" adopted by the Heads of States and Government of the G8 during the 1999 Summit in Cologne.
The themes kept for this meeting (indicated in the Japanese discussion document, see EUROPE of 15 March, p.15) are: promotion of teacher and student exchanges, adaptation of the teaching systems to social change and new technologies, lifelong training and remote training. The aim of the meeting is to identify in the national policies of the G8 Members and the successes and failures in the EU programmes and to swap experiences and good practices. Thus Mrs. Reding will present to the Ministers the Community system of student mobility, "Erasmus", considered throughout the world as a model.
After the G8 meeting, the Ministers and Mrs. Reding will take part in a debate with universities on the future of education and then a public conference organised by the Rengo union on the reform of the education system in Japan. In addition there will be bilateral meetings with the G8 Ministers for education, Mrs. Reding will meet on the 4 and 5 April the Japanese Ministers for Employment, the Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr. Yamamoto and will speak before the Diet's Education Commission. These meetings will enable them to discuss relations between the EU and Japan in the field of education and to evaluate the possibilities of strengthening them.