This year is the European Union-China Year of Youth. Aimed at strengthening and expanding people-to-people contacts, intercultural dialogue, mutual understanding and cooperation, it offers opportunities for young Europeans and Chinese to meet, exchange ideas and learn from each other in 2011 and beyond. Last month saw the successful launch of this celebratory year in Brussels, capital of the EU.

This excellent initiative promises to be one of the most important areas of cooperation in the 35-year history of our formal relationship, not to mention the hundreds of years of contacts between Europe and China.

Many millions of young Europeans and Chinese, even well-educated university graduates, find themselves struggling in the current employment market or are in some way anxious about the future. And indeed many of those lucky enough to have jobs find themselves trapped in low-paid employment, worrying about housing and mortgage payments, expensive healthcare, rising cost of living and the seeming lack of opportunities to make a better life for themselves and their families. Young people are increasingly stressed about so many different aspects of their lives.