1. The “Technical Consultation on Global Citizenship Education” took place at the Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding (APCEIU), Seoul, on September 9 and 10. The event was co-hosted by the government of the Republic of Korea – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education -- and UNESCO in partnership with the APCEIU, and attended by 70-odd local and foreign specialists in international education development as well as government officials and delegates from international organizations.

°  The “Global Education First Initiative (GEFI)” was formally launched at the UN General Assembly session in September 2012 led by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The Technical Consultation marks the first international meeting on "global citizenship education (GCE),” one of GEFI's three goals as well as a new key agenda item in the field of international education development.

2. In the Technical Consultation, the participants reviewed GCE cases in various regions, including Africa, the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific, Europe and Latin America as well as the situation in and key issues concerning the GCE that has been conducted in diverse forms, such as education on human rights, international understanding and technology. They also held in-depth discussions on the concept, requirements and priorities of GCE as well as the development of a framework for its implementation.

° The specialists generally shared the view that the international community should seek a paradigm shift in education: Unlike in the past when the international community focused on quantitative increase in education, including wider access to education and provision of basic education, from now on, international education development should put priority on fostering values, knowledge and technology needed to actively cope with diverse global issues, such as human rights, democracy, cultural diversity, peace and sustainable development.

3. In this light, UNESCO selected GCE as one of its top eight-year mid-term strategies in the education sector, which will be implemented starting from next year. Building upon the outcome of the Technical Conference in Seoul, the organization will publish early next year a report on its GCE strategies and ways to implement them.

° The Technical Consultation issued the “Global Citizenship Education: An Emerging Perspective” as its concluding paper, a guideline that serves as the basis for future discussions on GCE.

4. The ROK government, through close interagency meetings, will seek to help the ROK people strengthen their global capacity, while taking an active part in international efforts to achieve sustainable development and cultivate mature global citizenship though education.

                                   Ministry of Foreign Affairs
                                   Ministry of Education

* unofficial translation