Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director for EU Affairs Ambassador Faruk Kaymakcı participated in the Congress of Youth Friendly Cities

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director for EU Affairs Ambassador Faruk Kaymakcı participated in Youth and National Policies session of the Congress of Youth Friendly Cities organized by Union of Municipalities of Türkiye (TBB) and Ministry of Youth and Sports on 25 August 2020.

During the meeting, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director for EU Affairs Ambassador Faruk Kaymakcı delivered a speech entitled “Youth Policies and EU Accession”. In his speech Ambassador Kaymakcı highlighted the vital importance of participation of young people in social, economic and political spheres and their role in EU accession process as well as greater presence of youth in national and international organizations. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Kaymakcı also stated that Türkiye, in support of all the efforts of youth and with a view to widening the existing platforms and further increasing their level of involvement in national and international policy organizations, spares no efforts to closely follow the relevant EU policies and take active role in EU Programmes such as Erasmus+, Horizon Europe, European Solidarity Corps and Jean Monnet Scholarship.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Kaymakcı also expressed that mobility and interaction lies at the heart of the EU Youth Strategy and the EU deems investment on youth as a vital element of its long term strategies in addition to Digitalization and Green Deal. Ambassador Kaymakcı highlighted the activities in progress with a view to engaging Turkish young people to the debates within the framework of ongoing Conference on the Future of the Europe. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Kaymakcı, following his speech, visited the exhibition booths of “the Civil Society Dialogue between the EU and Türkiye” and “the Jean Monnet Scholarship Programme”.