Arts & Culture

The ASEF Youth Partnerships Seminar on Vocational Training Related to Restoration of the Cultural Heritage and the Environment was held in Madrid, Spain form 14th-15th June, 2007. It was organised in the framework of ASEF Youth Partnerships 2007 and Madrid was selected as the venue because of Spanish experience in delivering this type of topic through their Escuelas Taller (Workshop Schools), which is an excellent best practice.

The seminar was co-organised by ASEF and the Santamarca Training Centre, with the support of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, the Government of the Philippines and the Spanish Ministry of Labour. It gathered 46 experts in the work with youth, cultural heritage and environmental preservation from 25 ASEM countries.

The partners present at this forum expressed their interest in incorporating the experience of the Training Workshops into the framework of the EU-ASEM meetings for dialogue, in the field of employment and social and cultural affairs, taking into particular consideration the goal of eradicating poverty in Asia. This new initiative will encourage the mobilisation both of governmental bodies and of civil society.

This meeting constituted the launch of a process that should be continued in forthcoming years. With this in mind, all the ASEM partners have been invited to develop a coordinated action involving the various projects that are currently in progress or that might be established on the basis of the Madrid meeting. Thus, promoting employment, restoring national heritage and protecting the environment are all challenges that our countries must face up to on the basis of a strengthened dialogue within the ASEM process.