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

8. The PRESIDENT:
I should like to thank His Excellency, the Minister of National Education of Niger. Sir, I wish you a
successful transition to democracy, making as few mistakes as possible because it is easy, very easy, to make
mistakes. The gap you are afraid of, and rightly so, can only be bridged by education, dialogue and
communication, which will strengthen your part of the world, situated in the very heart of the continent. I thank
you again for your contribution. I now call Her Excellency, Ms Karina Pétersone, Minister of Culture of Latvia.
9.1 Ms PÉTERSONE (Latvia):
Madam President of the General Conference, Mr Director-General, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
on behalf of my delegation and the Government of Latvia I would like to congratulate you, Madam President, on
your election to the presidency of the current session of the General Conference. It is a great pleasure for me to
address this distinguished audience and to present with some emotion the congratulations and good wishes of my
country, Latvia, to UNESCO on its 30th session of the General Conference, the last session of the twentieth
century. Allow me also to avail myself of this opportunity to warmly congratulate the Republic of Palau on
joining the family of UNESCO nations.
9.2 Madam President and distinguished participants of the General Conference, I come from a small but
dynamic State on the Baltic Sea with a very complicated history but with a very interesting and multifaceted
culture. Our country became a Member State of UNESCO in 1991 when Latvia regained its independence, and
we very highly appreciate the possibility of taking part in the programmes and activities of this world
organization of intellectual cooperation. As a multicultural society, Latvia has successfully maintained peaceful
coexistence among its people, reflecting unity and harmony, ideals which are dear to UNESCO. We have made
every effort to preserve our ancestral cultures and languages. The unity that we are building in an area of cultural
diversity is founded on tolerance and mutual respect. These precious qualities are being acquired during people’s
lifetime through appreciation of human and cultural values.
9.3 Latvia has always been part of European history, culture and civilization. During the first years of its
national sovereignty, from 1919 to 1941, it developed intensive cultural, scientific and economic relations with
other European nations and started to rebuild and develop them after restoring its independence eight years ago.
Through participation in the United Nations system and in UNESCO in particular, we have widened our horizon
and have become active and committed partners among other Member States. And more specifically in the
future, Latvia looks forward to more intensive cooperation with the Baltic Sea region countries in the fields of
education, science and culture, particularly in safeguarding the cultural and natural heritage, multicultural
education and coastal zones management. We highly appreciate UNESCO’s efforts in supporting these activities.
9.4 Madam President, as a representative of a post-communist country yourself, you will understand our
concern about the cold war period division of Europe between its West and Central European parts, which
unfortunately still exists, and not only in the minds of people. It exists also in UNESCO - our division of the
European electoral group into Group I and Group II is also a historical anachronism. This may widen the gap in
technology and culture, a gap created in the past on account of political barriers, and it may lead to new political
tensions.
9.5 However, the Latvian National Commission for UNESCO has made major efforts during the past
several years to ensure that Latvia takes an active part in the work of UNESCO. Let me refer only to a few
noteworthy events. The historic centre of Riga was included in the World Heritage List. The main process of
inventorying its architectural and cultural treasures is coming to an end. Latvia has submitted the materials for the
Abava river valley to be included in the World Heritage List as well. Mr Federico Mayor’s visit to Riga in 1998
accelerated many UNESCO activities in Latvia and I wish to cordially thank the Director-General for his genuine
deep interest in the situation and progress of the Member States. The opening of the International Centre of
Biomedicine and Biotechnology in Riga will give Latvia an opportunity to enter into broader international
cooperation in this field of science. Participation in all recent world conferences organized by UNESCO has
brought us closer to understanding world problems. We are also proud about one very recent event - yesterday,
the Melina Mercouri International Prize for the Safeguarding and Management of Cultural Landscapes was
awarded to the Pedvale Open Air Museum at its opening.
9.6 The Latvian National Commission for UNESCO has prepared and submitted several draft resolutions to
this session. One of them directly concerns our future development as an intellectually and culturally advanced
nation - namely, the Latvian National Library project, and we very much rely on your support.
9.7 In Latvia we attach particular importance to Major Programme III, Cultural development: the heritage
and creativity. Since our cultural and architectural heritage is so rich and covers such a vast historical period,
several of the proposed projects included in this programme are of particular interest to us, especially projects
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