UNESCO. General Conference; 30th; Records ... - unesdoc - Unesco

ANNEX
to the verbatim record of the fifth meeting
Statement by H.E. Ashk Sadique, MP, Education Minister and head of the delegation of Bangladesh 1
Mr President, Mr Director-General, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, I feel
honoured to have the opportunity to address the 30th session of the General Conference of UNESCO. I feel
specially privileged to be able to address this Conference for the second time after a lapse of two years, i.e. the
29th session in 1997. I convey to this august gathering the compliments and best wishes of Sheikh Hasina, the
Honourable Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Just a month ago, in this hall, our
Honourable Prime Minister was awarded the prestigious UNESCO Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize for
1998. We believe this award has been given for a just cause and to a deserving personality for ending a quarter of
a century of bloody ethnic conflict which took a heavy toll in many innocent lives.
I congratulate the President, Ms Moserová, on behalf of my delegation and myself, on her assuming this
office of eminence and distinction. We have the firm conviction that her accomplished and gifted leadership will
lead the Conference to the effective realization of its objectives.
I would also take this opportunity to convey our deep appreciation of the attainments by the outgoing
President.
We thank the Chairperson and the Members of the Executive Board for efficiently discharging their
responsibilities and, especially, for performing the strenuous job of executing the programmes of the last
biennium.
Mr President, kindly allow me the privilege to thank most profoundly Mr Federico Mayor, the Director-
General of UNESCO, for his devoted efforts to realize the objects of this great Organization. We congratulate
him for presenting such a comprehensive draft of the Programme and Budget for 2000-2001. We extend our
warmest felicitations to Mr Mayor on the successful conclusion of his tenure in this office. We fondly and
thankfully recall his visit to Bangladesh in November 1997. We still cherish that visit. I take this opportunity to
congratulate and welcome the next Director-General of UNESCO. We assure him of our continued support and
cooperation.
I, on behalf of my delegation and also on my own behalf, welcome the new Members who have joined
the Organization since the 29th session of the General Conference.
Mr President, allow me to focus on the special significance of this 30th session as envisaged by my
delegation. This session is especially significant not only because it is the last to occur this century, but also
because the session is taking place at a time when the areas of UNESCO’s concern are undergoing great changes
globally. We have new approaches towards learning, new interpretations of education as enunciated in Delors’s
landmark report Learning: The Treasure Within, greater awareness of women regarding their rights and great
emphasis put on the dignity of the human being. At this critical juncture, we are experiencing breakthroughs in
science and technology which challenge old values and give rise to new moral and ethical questions. The
decisions that will be reached and the recommendations that will be made at this session will shape the plans,
programmes and activities of the Member States in the coming century.
We are indeed fortunate to witness the advent of a new millennium. During the past decades, the
dynamics of societal changes have had their own course. Paradox and new dimensions characterize these
changes. The vision of the world as a global village is blurred by the incidences of war taking place in many parts
of the world. The impact of the globalization of the economies of the world, initiated through the establishment
of the World Trade Organization, is curbed considerably by the exclusion of the deprived and the disadvantaged.
On the one hand we see the march forward of the world’s women’s community towards realization of their rights
and rightful claims over their lives, bodies and livelihoods; on the other hand we observe that a large segment of
women are victims of atrocious activities. We see conflicts based on religion, ethnicity and language – both
among and within nations – negate the message of peace. It is against this backdrop that this session is taking
place.
One of the guiding principles of this session, therefore, should be to bring the excluded into the fold of
development so that they become co-sharers of the advancement in all spheres of human activities that the world
is experiencing at present. This is essential for development itself, for human society cannot maintain the tempo
of development keeping a major part of its membership in darkness, ignorance and deprivation.
1
See 30 C/VR.5, paragraph 33.
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