Thirty-six European youngsters will participate in the first traineeship of 2013 to be held in the Azores under the Eurodyssey and Leonardo da Vinci exchange programmes.

These youngsters will have the opportunity of having a professional experience in a foreign country through the Eurodyssey programme. The group is composed of youngsters from the French regions of Franche-Comté, Île-de-France, Midi-Pyrenées, Poitou-Charentes e Rhône Alps; Belgian region of Wallonia; Spanish region of Catalonia, Valencia and Murcia; Austrian region of Carinthia; Swiss region of Jura and the Croatian region of Sibenik-Knin.

The traineeships will take place on the islands of São Miguel, Terceira, Faial and Pico. The new group will stay in the Region for the next six months.

The month of February will be exclusively dedicated to the learning of Portuguese language and the remaining five months to the traineeship programme.

During this period, youngsters will be integrated into Azorean institutions and companies in several areas: hotel, restaurant, tourism, biology, environment, media, audiovisuals, graphic design, education and social intervention. With this traineeship, youngsters will have a first contact with the labour world.

The Regional Director for Employment and Professional Qualification, Ilda Baptista, will welcome the group of young trainees next Monday on 11 AM. This group also includes a youngster from Brussels with training in the area of Tourism and Leisure that is participating under the Leonardo da Vinci programme.

Eurodyssey is an exchange programme of the Assembly of European Regions (AER) that promotes traineeships abroad for a period between three and seven months. This initiative is targeted at youngsters between 18 and 32 who are looking for a job.

The programme, which is chaired by the Azores, aims to provide youngsters with professional experience and simultaneously give them the opportunity to learn a foreign language or improve their knowledge of it.

The Leonardo da Vinci Programme, which is managed by the European Commission, was created in 1995 with the aim of supporting training activities and improving the acquisition of knowledge, skills and qualifications in a professional context.

This programme provides trainees in initial vocational training, citizens integrated in the labour market and professionals in the area of vocational training with the possibility of having a professional experience in an organisation located in a foreign country.