International Co-operation scheme Colombia - Germany

A Bilateral Global Dialogue

As an example of successful international cooperation among worldwide young people, AIESEC in Colombia and the German team "AIESEC meets EXPO 2000", worked together for over 10 months in a joint plan, aiming to bring Colombian and German students closer to the EXPO activities and even more to the knowledge that has been created and discussed in such international events under the main topic of "Mankind, Nature and Technology".

Therefore our main activity among others, was the active participation of ten Colombian students and twelve German students in the so called "Global Dialogues", a group of 10 global seminars addressing a variety of key issues, with the objective of "find common paths towards a sustainable future worth living in". For the occasion, experts from all the corners of the world came to EXPO 2000 Hannover. Scientists, project organizers, leading political figures, business men, villagers, country men, students and young decision-makers from over 60 countries and representing different generations and ways of life, were involved in an non-hierarchy discussion, were they shared and communicated the knowledge and expertise that they have acquired in their work, trying to develop realistic scenarios for a sustainable future.
The ten 3-days-based dialogues, addressed the following topics: Natural Resources: The Sustainability Challenge, Responsible Governance in a Global Society, Science and Technology, Fighting Poverty, The Role of the Village in the 21st Century, Health the Key to Human Development, Building Learning Societies, Culture on the Move, Future Works - Labor, Sustainable Business and Social Responsibility and finalized with a Youth meeting in the last dialogue: Shaping a Future of Global Partnership, in which AIESEC members had an important participation.

The "AIESEC Team" worked under the guidance of Mrs. Margarita Marino de Botero, Vice-President of the International Advisory Board of the EXPO 2000, member of the Club of Rome and President of the "Colegio Verde" (Green College) in Colombia, who gave to our initiative all the necessary support.

As a high quality exchange activity for the Colombian students and a life long learning process for all the AIESEC members involved, the main result of this cooperation has been, apart from strengthening of the relations between AIESEC in Colombia and AIESEC in Germany, the intellectual approach and the contribution of the participants towards one of the most important values of the association: Acting Sustainably.

Once again due to this joint effort, AIESEC has been seen as a real "Global Player", participating on behalf of worldwide youth in the global events where global decisions take place.
Now the whole effort has to be "Sustainable" in our exchange-based organization, working in our core and benefiting AIESEC worldwide. We are already working on it and we look forward to have the inputs and the commitment of other AIESEC members in 85 countries.

Ricardo Moreno
Member Committee, AIESEC in Colombia