AEGE students join summer university in Chisinau

Some 30 students, members of Association des Etats Genereaux des Etudiants de l'Europe (AEGE) – the European Students Association, join a summer university in Chisinau, organized for two weeks by the AEGE's branch in Moldova. The youths get to better know the Moldovan traditions, culture, business, political and social environment. They are willing to meet Moldovan officials, too, so they had a meeting with Chisinau's mayor Dorin Chirtoaca on Friday, Info-Prim Neo reports. A program coordinator, Andrei Martalog, says the goal of the summer university is to realize an inter-cultural and social exchange among students from different countries, including Moldova. They will also visit Transnistria, “to get to know an unrecognized state within other state,” said Andrei Martalog. Meeting the general mayor, the students from Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Slovenia, Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Ukraine and Latvia have said they are pleased with what they have seen in Chisinau, adding the situation in Moldova is better than they expected. They say they will gather information about the country's major problems and its development after the USSR's dismantlement. Dorin Chirtoaca has told them about the history of Chisinau, its infrastructure, business situation, politics, partnerships with the EU structures, and about volunteer-related issues. The 30-year-old mayor says the municipality is open with the youths and invites them to practice volunteer activities within the local administration. AEGE has some 17,000 volunteer members (students and young professionals) from 241 cities from Europe. Its quarters are in Brussels and its Moldovan office has worked since 1996, having organized 10 summer universities. AEGE's Chisinau branch has 20 members.