02.06.2004 - AEGEE Press release on seminar of EU and Europe project in Minsk 

"Mediating Europe: By, Between and Beyond" in Minsk 

This Thursday, 25 students from all over Europe are gathering in Minsk, Belarus, for an AEGEE conference entitled "Mediating Europe: BY, Between and Beyond". The three-day event will focus on the relationships between Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine and the European Union.

The event will be the third conference organized in the larger framework of AEGEE's large-scale project "EU & Europe", dealing with the relations between the EU and its neighbours after the enlargement of the 1st of May 2004. Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova form a group of these neighbouring countries and, consequently, "Mediating Europe" will focus on the relations between these states and the EU in its new composition. 

The overall idea of the conference is to reflect upon the issue of new borders and its potential division into EU "insiders" and "outsiders" in the perspective of the mediative function that can be carried out by Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova in this regard. Such an approach develops further the concept of European Neighbourhood towards cooperation, more adequate representation of this region within the EU and its cross-border specificity (the "between" dimension), in particular its position of border space between the EU and Russia, as well as enlargement of the Eastern horizons of the European identity (the "beyond" dimension). 

Prestigious speakers such as Andrzej Czuchryta, 2nd secretary of the Embassy of Poland, prof. Vladimir Dunaev first vice-rector of European Humanities University and Aleksander Mikheishin from the International Relations Affairs of European Humanities University are expected to speak to the audience.

As a pre-activity to the conference, the participants who are coming from various universities from Minsk and other cities of Belarus as well as from other European countries had been asked to prepare papers that they will present in Minsk as a basis for the discussions, workshops and simulations. This will help to understand the perceptions the people have regarding each other and to open space for fruitful brainstorming and action planning in this field. Among the main topics addressed will be history and culture, mobility and identity, economics and politics, with a particular focus on the New Neighbourhood Policy of the European Union. 

"It is worth noting that AEGEE is discussing these issues in Minsk in spite of the fact that Belarus has been officially removed from the list of European Neighbourhood policy countries which proves a rather developed European dimension of civil society in Belarus", states Dzmitri Korenko, head of the organising team of AEGEE-Minsk. 

The conference is organized by AEGEE-Minsk and International Politics Working Group of the European Students' Forum AEGEE-Europe and also enjoys the support of the European Humanities University in Minsk as well as the Department for International Relations of the Belarusian State University.

International Politics Working Group (IPWG) is an association of AEGEE members all over Europe interested in international relations and politics. Since its foundation in 1997, IPWG has become an important pillar of AEGEE activities by organizing a wide variety of conferences, seminars and workshops on political topics. IPWG also provides speakers and workshop leaders for events with political themes, and advices AEGEE Europe on political issues.

AEGEE is one of Europe's largest interdisciplinary and voluntary student associations, operating without being linked to any political party, promoting a unified Europe, cross-border co-operation, communication and integration in academic environment, and at the same time striving to create an open and tolerant society by involving students and young graduates in valuable projects and discussions over the topics of importance for the communities they live in. It is represented in 260 university cities, in 42 countries all around Europe and has about 17000 members.

More information:
Ewa Solarczyk
Vice-President / Director for Public Relations

European Students' Forum - AEGEE
Rue Nestor de Tiere 15
1030 Bruxelles
Phone: +32 2 245 23 00
Fax: +32 2 245 62 60
Web: www.aegee.org
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