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

into national development and environmental plans through association with IOC and also through participation
in the International Geological Correlation Programme. Here, we would much appreciate it if UNESCO could
assist us in the establishment of a UNESCO Chair in this field. This special project presents an opportunity for
the subregion to move effectively to support and sustain the potential it possesses. As part of our commitment to
the project, through our National Commission, there will also be a travelling cultural exhibition to promote
understanding of our multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural societies.
33.6 I shall now say a few words about the education revolution taking place in my country over the last three
years as a pre-requisite for a total quality nation. At all levels, there is enhanced access and quality. My colleague
from Norway in her address reminded us of the importance of the close collaboration of all agencies, particularly
at the country level. It is for this reason that we are able to fuel this Education Revolution using loans from the
World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. These loans are facilitating the construction of early
childhood care and education centres, new primary and secondary schools and the training of teachers. We are
targeting the year 2001 for achieving universal secondary education.
33.7 Computer literacy is of paramount importance in the next millennium. Our technological vision for the
medium-term is to have all our schools equipped with computer laboratories so that every child in every class can
have access to a computer. At present, the government has placed over 1,500 state-of-the-art computers in our
nation’s schools. Access to tertiary education is to be enhanced through a national community college. Our
Republic is strongly encouraging university and private sector partnerships, for example, in the petroleum sector,
our major revenue base. We are proud to mention the success of one such pilot project partnership, spearheaded
by one of our entrepreneurial women engineers. It has been said that education is the great equaliser and it is one
of the pillars in our poverty eradication drive. Our unemployment rate is down to 11.6%, the lowest in 20 years.
Our adult literacy rate is up to 98% and our female adult literacy rate to 97% - figures given in this year’s UNDP
Human Development Report.
33.8 As the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago aspires to become a total quality nation, its continuing
symbiotic relationship with UNESCO in all its fields of competence is crucial to this transformation. Madam
President, as I close, this is our vision for UNESCO for the next millennium. Be willing to open new doors to
new experiences and to step bravely forth to explore strange new horizons. Thank you.
34. The PRESIDENT:
I should like to thank His Excellency the Honourable Adesh Nanan, Minister of Tourism of Trinidad
and Tobago. You are quite rightly proud of your candidate for the high office. He is indeed greatly esteemed and
well liked. I wish your country the very best. The last speaker this morning will be His Excellency the
Honourable Viswa Warnapala, Deputy Minister of Education and Higher Education of Sri Lanka. Your
Excellency, you have the floor.
35.1 Mr WARNAPALA (Sri Lanka):
Madam President, Mr Director-General, members of the Executive Board, Excellencies, distinguished
delegates, ladies and gentlemen, may I, at the very outset, extend my congratulations to you on behalf of my
delegation, Madam President, on your election to this office and also express my happiness to see a lady
presiding over this august assembly in the same way as Sri Lanka is led by a lady, Her Excellency President
Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. I fully endorse the sentiments expressed by the leader of the Gambian
delegation, who wished more women leaders for Africa and more female representation in UNESCO. It is our
government’s policy that gender equity should be respected and strictly enforced in all spheres of activity so that
men and women become equal partners for social and economic progress of this world. Let me also record my
appreciation of the services rendered and the initiatives taken by Mr Federico Mayor, who has brought a new
dynamism to the work of UNESCO and relentlessly promoted the culture of peace programme. Madam
President, we wholeheartedly support UNESCO’s concept for a culture of peace. I am proud to say, in this
connection, that just a few weeks ago on 14 September we in Sri Lanka declared the port city of Trincomalee in
the northern part of Sri Lanka a City of Peace. Trincomalee is a symbol of our cultural diversity and pluralism
and it retains many characteristics and cultural monuments of the cultures of all our ethnic groups.
35.2 I am also happy to state here that prior to Trincomalee being declared a City of Peace, the President of
my country introduced peace education at school level. Sri Lanka yearns for peace. It is the unreserved position
of the Sri Lanka Government that human rights are fundamental to human and social development and an
essential ingredient in the promotion of a culture of peace. We established a Human Rights Commission two
years ago which is now fully functional. Sri Lanka has consistently followed an open policy with regard to the
promotion and protection of human rights. The national and international measures that Sri Lanka has taken in
the field of human rights, Madam President, are governed by this particular policy. Sri Lanka is now a party to
14 international instruments on human rights, including the Optional Protocol of the International Covenant on
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