Further development of People-to-people contacts, in particular investments in youth, will be prioritised in the next roadmap, covering 2021-2025. The EU cooperation in the EaP will be built around strengthening the quality of the teaching personal in a digitalised and globalised world and modernisation and innovation of education and training at all levels.

The New Deal for Youth, presented during the Platform 4 meeting, will support national education reform processes through the flagship Erasmus+ programmes with its higher education and VET strands as well as through substantial bilateral projects. The Erasmus+ will remain as a popular and effective enabler for non-formal learning and mobility opportunities for youth and youth workers. The EU is planning to enable over 20 000 individual mobility opportunities under Erasmus+ higher education, for students and staff from the EaP region to study, teach, or train abroad.

Moreover, over 50 000 individual mobility opportunities for EaP countries are planned under Erasmus+ youth exchanges and other EU-funded non-formal learning and volunteering opportunities, promoting the mobility of young people and youth workers between the EU and the EaP region.

To increase the effectiveness of EaP national public research and innovation systems, the EU will continue working on policy recommendations and national R&I Strategies together with their counterparts. For the next period of deliverables, the EU aims at least at a 50% increase of Gross Expenditure in Research and Development, improve the score of the Global Innovation Index by at least 3 points, as well as at least a 40% increase in participation in Horizon Europe compared to Horizon 2020 rates.

In the area of mobility and visa liberalisation, the EU considers new visa liberalisation dialogues, provided that well-managed and secure mobility conditions are in place. The EU-EaP cooperation aims at balanced mobility partnerships with all EaP countries and increased cooperation in the area of integrated border management, fighting the illegal migration and strengthening the infrastructure of the legal migration mechanisms.