Have your say on Euro 2013 bid

The event will take place at the Bishop Street venue between 6pm and 8.30pm at the Junction, and is designed to allow people express and leave their views and ideas in relation to the European Youth Capital 2013.

Mayor Colum Eastwood says that a successful bid for European Youth Capital status would bring many benefits to the young people of the city.

"The European Youth Capital bid is about creating connections between young people and celebrating all that is positive about them. It's about exhibiting youth culture and promoting dialogue between young people and youth work communities.

"The values of the European Youth Capital bid chime perfectly the our projected UK City of Culture programme and what a marvellous synergy could be produced if our city was to become European Youth Capital in the same year that it celebrates its City of Culture status.

"The short term benefits, to mention only a few, are an increase in tourism and international respect, not to mention a sense of accountability and involvement shared by the youth that helps toward a healthier happier community as a whole.

"As for the long term rewards, an involved youth lead to committed and productive members of society who are more likely to serve their communities interests as their community has served theirs," he said.

European Youth Capital is a title awarded to by the European Youth Forum General Assembly to a European city for the period of one year, during which time it will be given the chance to develop a diverse program related to youth issues.

The project intends not just to raise awareness about youth issues, but also to make institutions conscious of the need to add a youth dimension to the policy-making process.

The idea is to go beyond a simple award, and to promote in the long term the participation of young people in the public sphere through the local level, considered as the closest to the citizens, and creating at the same time a bridge between the European and the local level.

Eleven cities from across Europe submitted their initial bids for this prestigious title on June 10 of this year and Londonderry is one of four cities to make the final shortlist along with, Maribor (Slovenia), Goes (Netherlands) and Karlstad (Sweden).

Londonderry and the other three remaining candidate cities must are completing the second phase of their bids submit their final bids ahead of the final deadline of October 13 2010.

The European Youth Capital jury will convene on November 15 in Brussels and assess the shortlisted applications before selecting the winning city. The awards ceremony will take place during the European Youth Forum General Assembly, on November 18-20.

The Londonderry bid is being lead by Derry City Council and ILEX in association with a number of local stakeholders and youth organisations.