Brussels, 11/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - on 10 May in Graz, Austria, the European Commission and the Austrian Presidency of the EU jointly honoured the first ever “Leonardo da Vinci Ambassadors”. “Ambassadors” were identified as excellent examples of a successful trans-national mobility by the National Agencies that run the Leonardo grants. Leonardo da Vinci programme aims at improving the quality of vocational education and training in Europe. These “Ambassadors”, the Commission emphasised, would promote the programme, giving it a human face. In addition, 24 mobility projects were short-listed for the European Quality Awards at the event, to demonstrate examples of real results and benefits from the Leonardo programme. The selected projects offered young people the chance for an experience abroad in the course of their professional training. The short-listed projects will serve as examples of excellence, to inspire future mobility projects, for the benefit of European vocational education and training as a whole. At the event, Ján Figel, European Commissioner in charge of Education & Training said “Transnational programmes like Leonardo da Vinci are a key contribution to the development of a European Labour market” adding, “The mobility of thousands of young people, but also teachers and trainers, leads to a mutual understanding of Europe's different education and training systems and to increased transparency of these systems”. For further information on the selected projects, and the Leonardo da Vinci ambassadors, please consult the two publications issued in connection with the event at the Leonardo da Vinci web-site of the European Commission: (http: //europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/leonardo/leonardo_en.html).