A youth friendship gathering between ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), and China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) (10+3) was held Tuesday in Wuxi, a city of east China's Jiangsu Province.

More than 130 youth representatives, including senior officials, entrepreneurs, and scholars attended the gathering to exchange views on promoting cooperation between ASEAN and the three countries.

Yang Yue, member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China, said east Asian countries should establish youth cooperation mechanisms.

The gathering was held as an implementation of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's proposal in 2003 to set up a 10+3 youth exchanges and cooperative mechanism.

The successful opening of the friendship gathering indicates the formal establishment of youth exchange and cooperative mechanism under the 10+3 framework, sources from the All-China Youth Federation, the sponsor of the gathering, said.

Source: Xinhua