Young people from 51 Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) countries met at the EIB’s Luxembourg headquarters today as the EU Bank hosted the final day of the “Young Leaders Summit” organised by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) and the European Commission.

Young people from 51 Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) countries met at the EIB’s Luxembourg headquarters today as the EU Bank hosted the final day of the “Young Leaders Summit” organised by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) and the European Commission.

The topic of the summit was “Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment”. It aimed to contribute a youth perspective to the upcoming 12th ASEM Foreign Ministers’ Meeting that will start on November 5th in Luxembourg. The core objective of the summit was to create a platform for interaction and engagement between young leaders and the political leaders of the ASEM countries. A joint position paper was prepared to be officially presented to the foreign ministers at the ASEM meeting on November 5th.

On the fourth day of the summit’s programme, young people in the entrepreneurial, academic and civil service fields engaged with representatives of the EIB and ASEM experts from civil society and non-profit organisations, the private and social enterprise sectors, academia and administrations to discuss best practices on youth employment in both continents and find comprehensive solutions for long-term issues.

EIB President Werner Hoyer, who welcomed the summit’s participants and the ASEM Foreign Ministers, commented: “The topic of the summit “Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment” could hardly be more relevant at a time when Europe is still recovering from the crisis while the world economy shows signs of a slowdown. Instead of accepting the longer-term consequences of youth unemployment, we should seize the opportunity and invest more in our young people.”

At the close of the day, the High Representative of the European Union for foreign affairs Federica Mogherini delivered a keynote speech and engaged in a dialogue with the ASEF young leaders on topics of current importance to both continents. This was followed by a joint reception at the EIB for the participants and the Foreign Ministers arriving for the ASEM meeting tomorrow.