By John Keating
PARIS, Oct 30 (KUNA) -- The 39th General Conference of the UNESCO kicked off Monday for a 14-day session, with Kuwait participating at a high level to stress its active role in and ongoing support for the UN body.
The Conference is meeting to set out the future goals of the UNESCO programme, including motions to approve incoming and newly elected Director-General Audrey Azoulay, but also to discuss budgetary questions and to adopt the Organizations' program for the 2018-2021 period.
Kuwait was strongly represented at the opening session, which was attended by the Gulf nation's ambassador to France, Sami Mohammad Al-Sulaiman and Kuwaiti Permanent Delegate to UNESCO Dr. Meshal Al-Hayat.
The delegation from Kuwait included also Dr. Khaled Al-Rasheed, Secretary-General for the National Committee for Education, Sciences and Culture and other participants in the travelling delegation include Radwan Al-Radwan of Kuwait's Higher Council for Education, Dr. Adnan Shehab Al-Din, Director-General of the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) and other senior officials and embassy and UNESCO staff from Paris.
Kuwait's Minister for Education Mohammad Abdullatif Al-Fares will be joining the conference on Tuesday, accompanied by his Office Director, Anwar Mal Allah. The Kuwaiti Minister will address the Conference delegates on Friday.
Kuwait has been particularly noted for its active role in UNESCO and as recognition for its prominent position has been appointed one of the Vice President's of the General Conference for the second consecutive time, and in effect has also been made "Rapporteur" for the Commission for Social and Human Sciences, which is one of the principal commissions during the General Conference. Kuwaiti participant Hamoud Al-Ghashan will assume the Rapporteur responsibility on that commission during the Conference.
"Kuwait has done very good work in UNESCO and has contributed a lot and also has very good cooperation with the organization and Kuwait benefits directly and indirectly from UNESCO's mission and programs," Permanent Delegate Hayat told KUNA in exclusive comments.
The Kuwaiti representative cited, in particular, the nation's work with UNESCO on programs in the area of Education, Human and Natural Sciences, Culture and Communications. He also said that the aim of Kuwait was to achieve the "seven objectives of sustainable development" in line with UNESCO guidelines.
"Kuwait already has a number of 'key positions' in the UNESCO structure, he stressed, indicating membership on the Board for the international bureau for education, and obtaining the Vice Presidency of the Committee for World Patrimony and also membership of the Legal Committee and most recently appointed last June to the Committee on Oceanography.
Hayat noted that the Legal Forum, which emanates from his role on the Legal Committee, would also be beginning its work in two days time on important questions pertaining to UNESCO's activities. During the General Conference Kuwait will additionally be putting forward its candidacy for a seat on the Board for the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Hayat remarked, and if elected it would be representing the Arab group more broadly in that capacity.
The prospect for UNESCO's future development in light of the US decision to withdraw from the organization in December 2018 will influence the General Conference debates, not just because of budgetary issues but also due to the loss of input from American scientific and technical sources, input that is deemed badly needed for programme development.
The US financial contribution to UNESCO represents 22 percent of the overall budget but there has been no payment from the American side since 2011 when Washington stopped funding because Palestine was admitted as a full member to the UN body.
"On the financial or budgetary side, I don't see too much of an additional negative impact because financing from the US was halted before now - in November 2011 - and we have been used to this situation and the budget has been adjusted," the Kuwaiti Permanent Delegate said.
"We deeply regret the US withdrawal and we hope the new Director-General Madame Azoulay will be able to convince the American Administration to reverse its decision and ensure the return of the United States to this organization so that they can continue to bring their technical assistance to UNESCO," he remarked.
"We need this, as it is indispensable for the goals of our sustainable development programs set out for 2030," Hayat affirmed.
Despite the difficulties UNESCO has faced in recent months and years, Hayat said he hoped that "the remaining members will rise to the level of firm solidarity and give the impetus needed for UNESCO to pursue its goals in the coming years." (end) jk.mb