More than 500 youth delegates from ten member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) (10+3) gathered in Beijing on Thursday to launch the ASEAN 10+3 youth exchanges program.

The youth delegation, invited by the All-China Youth Federation, is to join the China-ASEAN Youth Camp and attend the China-ASEAN Young Leaders Meeting with topics on youth leaders' role in ASEAN members' social development, volunteers and East Asia community buildup.

Besides Beijing, the ASEAN youth delegation will also visit Manzhouli, a border city near Russia in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Two hundred delegates from Japan and the ROK will join 100 Chinese young people in a friendly meeting on the Beijing Olympic Games and cultural activities in Beijing and Tianjin cities.

The year 2007 marked the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The Chinese government has planned a series of celebrating activities.

The first China-ASEAN Youth Camp was held in China in October 2006 to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the establishment of China-ASEAN dialogue relations.

According to a joint statement issued on the China-ASEAN Commemorative Summit in 2006, China and ASEAN leaders agreed to strengthen social and cultural cooperation by encouraging greater cooperation between institutions of secondary and higher education; increasing youth exchanges by initiating the China-ASEAN Young Leaders Conference, China-ASEAN Young Entrepreneurs Association and China-ASEAN Young Civil Servants' Exchange Program as flagship projects.

This 10+3 youth exchanges program is initiated to implement the consensus reached by all state leaders to push forward youth exchanges and cooperation in an all-round way, according to the All-China Youth Federation.

(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2007)