Central European Initiative youngsters gather in Durres

DURRES, Nov. 22 – Hundreds of youngsters from 18 countries that make up the Central European Initiative gathered Wednesday in the port city of Durres to prepare a statement that will be sent to the summit of prime minister on Friday. They discussed about the regional cooperation in the fields of education, technology and human rights. The 6th forum of the CEI titled Youth – promoter of values was held in Albania which has the annual rotating presidency for the association. Some 800 businessmen and other senior officials from the 18 countries held a two-day meeting on promoting regional links. The Durres meeting was also hailed from the Albanian Minister of Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports Bujar Leskaj. The minister said that his government had drafted a five-year strategy on youth which aimed at attracting more opinions from the young generation on different policies and also to increase their participation in the local authorities. The culture was trying to promote better relations not only in the country but also with international partners, said the minister. There were representatives from Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.
An exhibition with the best works by four Albanian painters was opened Thursday along the context of the activities in the week of central European imitative. Ali Oseku, Ardian Isufi, Gazmend Leka and Orion will make a presentation of the Albanian art. The four painters have used their language of art to introduce the topics of the Albanian reality. “European culture respects the divergence of culture of each European nation and people,” said Leskaj.