Brussels, 01/06/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 1 and 2 June, Mr Jan Figel, European Commissioner in charge of Education & Training, will participate in a meeting of G8 Education Ministers in Moscow. Russia has highlighted education, alongside energy security and infectious diseases, as one of the three priorities for its presidency of the G8. The meeting in Moscow will look at the role of education in relation to four sets of issues: building innovative societies; developing skills for life and work; advancing the Education for All agenda; and the role education plays in empowering migrants. The Commissioner and his counterparts will be discussing the European Qualifications Framework, which will make it easier to relate qualifications acquired in one country to those used in another. This is already attracting interest among non-EU countries including Russia, and its non-binding nature makes it interesting as a model for cooperation with countries outside the EU legal framework. The “Bologna process”, will also be on the agenda. It is independent of the EU legal framework, and therefore third countries can freely take part in it. Russia has joined the process, which aims to establish comparable qualifications, clear quality assurance arrangements and educational credit transfer. Ministers are expected to stress the importance of maintaining the momentum of the Gleneagles summit to meet the millennium development goals in education (universal completion of primary education and elimination of gender disparities in education. This is only the second meeting of education ministers in the framework of the G7 and G8. Their conclusions will be sent to the heads of Government at the G8 Summit (Saint Petersburg, 15-17July 2006).