Budapest, May 2008. CONFINTEA VI – Sixth International Conference on Adult Education, which took place from May 19th – 22nd 2009 in Belém (Brazil), was preceded by five Regional Preparatory Conferences, which were programmed in relation to the overall thematic focus, however adapted to the respective regional characteristics. The Pan-European preparatory conference was held in Budapest, Hungary, 3rd – 5th December 2008, under the overall title: “Living and Learning for a Viable Future – The Power of Adult Learning“. The conference in Budapest was organized by UNESCO and the Hungarian National Commission for UNESCO, in cooperation with the Hungarian Institute for Culture on behalf of the Government of Hungary. It was an inter-governmental meeting (UNESCO category II) and it gathered the formal representatives – high delegations from 33 countries of Pan-European region (European countries, USA, Canada, Israel). Further 10 European countries were represented through NGOs, agencies, experts and observers. The most important international organizations took also part in the conference (ICAE, EAEA, dvv international, ISAEA). The demanding three-day program was organized in a way that enabled the regional review and insight into the complex and various state of the art of adult learning and education in Europe, North America and Israel, focusing on responses of ALE to the socio-economic challenges in Europe, trends and obstacles in the development of ALE. The concrete task was, as defined for the preparatory conferences, not just to asses the art of ALE, but also to identify the key issues on adult learning and education in the region, and to suggest key recommendations and benchmarks for adult learning and education for CONFINTEA VI. The excellent Regional Synthesis Report, plenary session, various working groups and good organizations resulted in final paper – Conference Outcome Document “Pan-European Statement on adult learning for equity and inclusion in the context of mobility and competition” – that gives an insight into the context and its implications for ALE, and provides the set of recommendations – an excellent input that will contribute significantly to the accomplishment of the CONFINTEA VI aims an goals. As for the countries of South-East Europe, the Preparatory conference was a success, especially for the fact the huge progress has been made since the last CONFINTEA in Hamburg 1997, where they (mostly) did not participate. In Budapest, almost all the SOE countries prepared the national reports and published them, thanks to the support of dvv international, who also supported participation of national delegations and country experts at the preparatory conference. Even more, intensive preparations and serial of meetings resulted with the Regional Report on the State of the Art of ALE in South-East Europe, (prepared by A.Miteva, K.Popovic, S.Medic), which was presented at the conference in Budapest and enabled the representatives from SOE an active participation in the discussions and in the creation of the outcome document.
