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

y the Executive Board is introduced. It should be seen clearly that those criteria are not meant to oppose
decentralization, but rather to make decentralization really operative.
10.5 Madam President, Hungary found it a great honour that Budapest could host the World Conference on
Science, where the makers and consumers of science could jointly discuss the challenges they have to respond to
on the threshold of the new millennium. We are pleased to note that the Conference has been favourably
received. We think that young scientists should play an important role in the follow-up activities. We propose
that during the next two years UNESCO should help the maintenance of the International Forum of Young
Scientists, which was established in Budapest.
10.6 The follow-up to the resolutions of the recent major conferences and world reports should define the
main assignments for our Organization for the years to come. We should turn UNESCO into a think tank, whose
opinion will become an essential reference and provide guidance for decision-makers in the member countries.
10.7 An eloquent example of that is our Organization's World Heritage Programme, which has made an
efficient contribution to the preservation of the cultural and natural heritage. It is quite complicated to preserve
the traditional way of life, the old skills, and to give them a new impetus under modern circumstances. It is even
more difficult to preserve them as part of historic urban settlements. Hence we are launching an initiative
together with ICOM for an integrated urban conservation training workshop and seminar for Central European
historic city managers, to take place next year. The restoration of the built heritage represents an immense task
for Hungary after the decades of socialism. This year, we have been able to spend twice as much money as
before, and thus the restoration of old churches, palaces and other buildings has started. Restoration provides
jobs for people with traditional skills. The majority of the restored buildings become new cultural centres. Thus
the process, apart from preserving the spiritual value of heritage sites, also strengthens the living cultural tradition
and fosters diversity of our culture. Four Hungarian sites with outstanding universal, natural and cultural values
have been included in the World Heritage List, one of them in conjunction with Slovakia. Our latest nomination
project is again in conjunction with a friendly neighbour, Austria. It is the Lake Fertó, with its natural and
cultural aspects. Two more sites were put on the table of the World Heritage Centre, which agreed that up to
seven Hungarian sites could be included in the World Heritage List over the next two years. Hungary is also
willing to take part in other international projects, such as the preparation of a new convention for the protection
of the underwater cultural heritage or the building of a geographical information system for the world heritage
sites. We also propose a new heritage fellowship programme for countries that are under-represented on the
World Heritage List. Hungary has just established its new national world heritage secretariat that will soon, we
hope, be developed into a regional world heritage centre if our neighbours wish to join us.
10.8 For Hungary the year 2000 means both the new millennium and the 1000th anniversary of the
establishment of the Hungarian State. Hungary's millennial celebrations will be based on the values of our
cultural heritage. It is therefore more than a conventional courtesy invitation on the part of the Hungarian
Government to invite the World Heritage Committee to hold its annual meeting in Budapest in autumn 2000,
when Hungary is celebrating its 1000th birthday.
10.9 Madam President, during the present session of the General Conference, we are going to elect a new
Director-General. We shall vest in the person of the Director-General considerable responsibility, as happened in
1987 and 1993, when Mr Federico Mayor was elected. Let us express our thanks to him for his indefatigable
activities. But the responsibility of the Director-General will not diminish the responsibility of the Member
States. The Director-General is a conductor, who may alter the composition of the orchestra or the way the
musical piece is performed but can only perform the score that is defined here jointly by the General Conference,
by us, the Member States of UNESCO.
10.10 Madam President, the ambitious programme for the period 2000-2001 that has been submitted to this
General Conference envisages momentous tasks for UNESCO. UNESCO will only be able to respond to that
challenge if we are committed consistently to implement the reform of our Organization. Thank you very much
for your attention.
11. The PRESIDENT:
Your Excellency, I should like to thank you for an excellent report and to express our appreciation for
the marvellous hospitality your country offered to the World Conference on Science. I should also like to
acknowledge the great contribution made by your country to the work of the Executive Board - thank you, Sir. I
should like now to call on the next speaker on the list, Her Excellency Ms Hanna Simon, Permanent
Representative of Eritrea to UNESCO. Madam, you have the floor.
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