The 7th Model ASEM program for youth, being carried out under the theme “20 years of ASEM: Partnership for Future through Connectivity”, launched on Thursday at the Central Youth Palace in Ulaanbaatar. Minister of Foreign Affairs L.Purevsuren, Ambassador and Executive Director of the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) Zhang Yan, President of the Mongolian Youth Federation (MYF) A.Munkhbat, and the Vice President of the World Assembly of Youth (WAY) presented opening remarks at the event. They speakers addressed the functions and actions of the MYF and emphasized that the youth need to discuss challenges such as environmental issues, climate change, resolving conflicts and wars, and combating corruption. In their speeches they noted the differences between Asian and European cultures. Minister L.Purevsuren underlined that Mongolia is a bridge between Asia and Europe. “As the host of the 2016 ASEM Summit, Mongolia is proud of itself for connecting the continents not only through economic ties but also political and diplomatic relations. Asia-Europe cooperation and its framework have broadened, but we still face many challenges. It is vital to design ways of resolving any problems or difficulties,” the Minister said. He stressed that nowadays the youth are confronted with many challenges, such as terrorism and poverty, but said that he was confident that the younger generation will master these challenges, standing against terrorism, and will "make the world better". A performance of Mongolian folk dance and music for Model ASEM attendees took place, and the first day of Model ASEM continued with discussions on the ASEM 2016 to 2017 Outlook report and a panel discussion was held on the ASEM process. Model ASEM is being attended by 100 young people selected out of 3,900 applicants from Mongolia and all over the world.