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European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR)
News article1 July 2016Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations

Connecting Youth - Western Balkans Youth Conference

The European Commission and the Government of the French Republic, supported by the European Youth Forum and SALTO South East Europe Resource Centre, are organising the "Connecting Youth -

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The European Commission and the Government of the French Republic, supported by the European Youth Forum and SALTO South East Europe Resource Centre, are organising the "Connecting Youth - Western Balkans Youth Conference". The Connecting Youth conference will take place in Paris, 4 July 2016, in the margins of the Western Balkans Summit. The Youth Conference constitutes a unique platform of exchange and dialogue, bringing together 150 young leaders and representatives from the Western Balkans and the EU-Member States.

Following an opening plenary session with high-level speakers, the participants will split into 4 parallel working groups, focusing on the following topics:

  1. Education and mobility
  2. Employment and entrepreneurship
  3. Youth engagement and participation
  4. Youth and the media

A regional initiative, the Western Balkans Regional Youth Cooperation Office to be located in Tirana, Albania, will see day light in Paris. Following the model of the Franco-German Youth Office, this is an important initiative for the region.

The launch of this initiative will be followed by a dialogue of young people with political leaders from the EU-Member States and the Western Balkans. The participants will present the inputs resulting from their discussions in the working groups.

The Youth Conference follows the Positive Agenda for the Youth in the Western Balkans adopted at the Brdo-Brijuni process summit in Slovenia in April 2015.

Registration for the event is closed. You are welcome to join the conversation on social media, using the hashtag #WBYouth or #ConnectingYouth

More information: