As parts of efforts to strengthen people-to-people contacts between the countries of Gulf Cooperation Council and the European Union, the EU will host the first edition of the EU-GCC “Young Leaders in Regional Diplomacy” Program. The Program brings 14 young diplomats from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and the GCC Member States to Brussels and Bruges, between 12^th and 17^th May, to learn about the principles and functioning of the EU and its diplomatic service.

During their visit, the GCC diplomats will exchange with senior EU officials, representatives from prominent European think tanks, the GCC diplomatic missions to the EU, and finally they will meet with young European diplomats at the European Diplomatic Academy, at the College of Europe in Bruges. The diplomats will also be immersed in cultural and social activities.

The program is the first of its kind in the EU-GCC relation, and is a concrete derivable of the commitment of the two regional blocks to strengthen and broaden cooperation on a wide range of areas, as foreseen in the EU’s strategy to develop closer ties with the GCC and reiterated at the High Level Forum on 22 April in Luxembourg.

The program coincides with the second anniversary of the EU joint communication on a Strategic Partnership with the Gulf, published in May 2022,  and the related Council conclusions of 20 June 2022.

This program, coordinated by the office of the EU Special Representative for the Gulf, Luigi Di Maio, is implemented with the support of the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments.