NAN-H-13
UNESCO
Abuja, June 13, 2017 (NAN) Dr. Moushira Khattab, Egypt’s candidate for the post of Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), says she will partner with relevant organisations to improve the activities of the organisation.
In a statement issued in Abuja after a news conference, Khattab said she would facilitate partnership with International Organisation for Migration and UN High Commission for Refugees, among others, to bring better development, especially to Africa, if elected.
She emphasised the importance of education to the activities of the organisation, noting that if elected, she would focus on the development of education, especially at the grassroots.
“I will facilitate partnership to fund more resources to promote education for better developed Africa; this will involve participatory informed action-target policies.
“We must strive to provide better education in conflict situations because the number of internally displaced persons has risen, causing global challenges to help givers and this must be tackled.
“Education, whether formal or informal, ought to be continuous, although the developing countries don’t have resources, the states must make resources available and revitalise education as the bedrock of other development,’’ she noted.
She promised to revitalise cultural values, noting that culture had been inseparable part of living that must be protected.
She also said she was optimistic that she would win the election, pointing out that the African Union’s parliamentary committee of foreign affairs had endorsed her candidature since 2016.
UNESCO has had European, Asian, African and American as Directors-General, but never an Arab since the organisation was founded in 1945 following World War II to promote world peace through culture.
Arab nations say it is their turn to head the organisation and Egypt has been lobbying hard for its candidate — Khattab — after it lost the 2009 nomination to current UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova of Bulgaria, who is to step down after two terms.
The other Arab candidates include Qatar’s Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kawari, Iraq’s Saleh al-Hasnawi and Lebanon’s Vera el-Khoury Lacoeuilhe.
Also on the shortlist are Guatemala’s Juan Alfonso Fuentes Soria, Vietnam’s Pham Sanh Chau, Azerbaijan’s Polad Bulbuloglu, China’s Qian Tang and France’s Culture Minister Audrey Azoulay.
Khattab is the former Minister of Family and Population of Egypt as well as Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vice-Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
She also served as Ambassador of Egypt to South Africa during the Nelson Mandela era and Ambassador of Egypt to the Czech Republic and Slovakia during their formation.(NAN)
IAA/KAY
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Edited by Kayode Olaitan