10 February 2010 – Commissioner Vassiliou opens Mundos Mexicanos exhibition
On my first full day in office as Commissioner for education, culture, multilingualism and youth, I will be opening the Mundos Mexicanos exhibition at the Palais des Beaux-Arts (Bozar) in Brussels as part of the celebrations of el Año de la Patria.
The European Union and Mexico have had close relations since the 1960s and in 1997 signed an agreement on economic and political cooperation, which included culture, education and training. Our links in these areas have continued to grow; the most recent milestone was a joint declaration signed by my predecessor, Ján Figel’ and Mexico’s Minister of education last June.
Also, the EU-Mexico Strategic Partnership of 2008 welcomed the launch of a policy dialogue on education and youth. An action plan that is currently being negotiated will include education and training.
But there is more to our cooperation than policy dialogue. Large numbers of students, researchers, and academics travel to European and Mexican universities thanks to EU programmes. For instance, around 500 Mexican students and academics have studied or taught in Europe since 2004 thanks to Erasmus Mundus – our programme for academic exchanges with non–EU countries.
