It is a great honor to welcome you at the 68^th EEMA Conference in Maastricht, the Netherlands

For the 67^th EEMA conference in 2019 in Valencia Past President Serdar Kehlamet, President Jakob Volther, Vice President Lucien Perlitius, Conference chair Graciela Waen and her team looked into the future of youth exchange. A successful conference with lots of renewing views.

2020 is the year of Maastricht. For this years conference we will continue looking into the future. For that we went back to the EEMA mission: Improve the Youth Exchange Program, Explore new opportunities and Enjoy international fellowship. Wel will do that under the umbrella of Empowerment.

Rotarians are leaders. Good leaders improve their skills, products and services, so does EEMA. EEMA is also very innovative. The NGSE program is an EEMA project that developed to adulthood. Now the Power of One, the initiative to increase the exchanges with Africa, the continent where mankind was born, is a focus area. In the meantime we see longtime worldwide friendship are developed between the people who live this programs.

The theme of the 68^th EEMA conference is “Improve, Explore, Enjoy: Empower Youth”

Empowerment has two sides, that have to be in balance. The yin and yang. The program of this conference will look as always on the student side of the program, but also on the club side.

What can motivate clubs and districts to join the program? For that we will have influential speakers to get a view from outside in to youth exchange, the important role of diversity and why executives in global companies should have international experience.

With these thoughts in mind we invite to contribute to and learn from the very interactive conference Jakob Volther, Lucien Perlitius and their conference team prepared for you.

See you in Maastricht.

Yours in Rotary