After a  successful kick-off reception yesterday evening, we are officially beginning Envision 4.7 today. It's wonderful and energizing to see so many new and familiar faces from all over the world gather to collaborate and find a way forward for Target 4.7 in Europe.

Envision 4.7 is all about bringing different actors together to co-create the solutions we need for common challenges that we share. This work is so needed at the moment as Europe has serious problems with xenophopbia, division of people, hate speech, overconsumption etc. 

In order to find a happy and healthy way forward for all of us, we need to find a way of living in harmony without psychological and physical violence. Europe is still seen as a role model for other continents, and that´s another reason why we need to find better solutions to live together.

Climate change etc. doesn´t follow boarders, and we have to take serious big changes in our environment while creating a positive future.

We have high hopes and plans for the roadmap and recommendations that we create at Envision 4.7. We plan to collectively discover a common vision and build on the key elements that participants see as tools for us to get Europe to own and carry its responsibility in this world; A roadmap that shows us the way to get key actors in Europe to commit to common goals.

I believe Envision 4.7 participants have a wide breadth of experience and knowledge to bring to the table, and that we will to work together towards common goal. We hope for good debates between participants from different areas. We have civil servants, academics, educators and civil society representatives all coming together in one place, and that hopefully leads to finding a common tune and vision for what we want to achieve in the coming years together.