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

(4.1) Mr JARADAT (Jordan) (Translation from the Arabic):
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Madam President, distinguished delegates, ladies
and gentlemen. Peace and the Mercy and Blessings of God be upon you all. It gives me great pleasure to begin by
congratulating the President on her election as President of the 30th session of the General Conference of
UNESCO. I wish the Conference all success under her competent and judicious leadership. I should also like to
congratulate Mr Matsuura, the Director-General-elect, and wish him a successful term in office. I should like to
offer my appreciation and esteem to the President of the 29th session for his outstanding efforts in leading the
General Conference, and I wish to thank the Chairperson and the distinguished Members of the Executive Board
for their important contribution to the success of this Organization, whose mandate and role in fostering human
development in the international community are a source of gratification for us all. May I also take this opportunity
to express my great esteem for the role played with such supreme competence by Mr Federico Mayor during his
term of office at the head of this Organization. That period was a portentous one for the human community, marked
as it was, as the twenty-first century approached, by unprecedented challenges and aspirations, but you, sir,
consistently displayed confidence and hope, looking to the future, working tirelessly to shift competition in the
world to the arena of education for all, striving to attain peace of conscience, the family, society at large, and all
humanity, and cultivating awareness of the right of peoples in the context of that competition in the field of
education.
(4.2) I must say how greatly I admire the Draft Programme and Budget, reaffirming as it does this
Organization’s desire to proceed with the task of bringing about positive change, carry out its ethical human
mission and strengthen the results achieved by the international commissions established by it, with a view to
creating a clear vision of tomorrow’s world and its major challenges in the area of globalization, bringing about a
just peace, crystallizing the concept of dialogue between cultures and deepening the personal and cultural identities
of nations, thereby enabling them to participate in what is a single human civilization. In particular, I greatly
admire the role played by UNESCO in the development of educational programmes aimed at strengthening the
cultural identity of the Palestinian Arab people, the preservation of the cultural heritage of the holy city of
Jerusalem, the reinvigoration of the human heritage and the renewal of the historical understanding of humankind.
The draft programme contains a number of positive orientations, such as the consolidation of the concepts of
democracy and human rights, the strengthening of the principles of ethical education, the harnessing of science and
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