Statement by H.E. Baiba Rivža, Minister of Education and Science, at the General Debate of the 34th session of the General Conference of UNESCO
Mr President of the General Conference, dear delegates!
At the outset, I would like to congratulate His Excellency George Anastassopoulos on his election as a President of the General Conference! We wish him every success in his important duties during the presidency!
Mr. Chairman,
Latvia associates itself with the statement made on behalf of the European Union by distinguished Minister of Portugal.
The 34th session of the General Conference has an important task to adopt a new medium term strategy thus stating the new policy directions and analysing the already undertaken policy priorities for the work of organization. In this regard it is our strong belief that education, including higher education and research, should be the major priority in the work of UNESCO. Therefore we would like to express our full support to remarkable action of UNESCO to achieve Education for All goals, as well as to the leading role of UNESCO in the implementation of the Decade on Education for Sustainable Development. In this regard we would like to point out the special role that Associated Schools Project plays in the work of UNESCO and Latvia looks with great concerns to the last biennium activities that have not ensured the use of full potential of network.
Being on the route to eliminate illiteracy and other obstacles, we would like to see that UNESCO continues to decentralize its work and the role of National Commissions is more recognized and National commissions are seen as one of the most important tools in the implementation of regular programme. As an example I would like to mention the very successful cooperation of 10 Baltic Sea States in the framework of EFA. Started in 2002 it has been lasting for already 5 years and this cooperation, which has been facilitated by the National Commissions, has given very tangible results for education systems of our countries.
Bearing in mind the challenges that our world is facing we should focus also our attention to the need to enrol every child in education. Gender parity in education and inclusion of the most marginalized groups are crucial. In this regard we express our full support to the forthcoming International Conference on Education organized which will be held next year in Geneva. To emphasize the important role of this event and to build the dialogue in the Europe and North America region Latvia will host the regional preparatory meeting of experts and policy makers from 24 to 26 February of the next year. Using this opportunity I would like to invite everyone to attend this important event and visit our beautiful country.
Mr President! Latvia wants to stress the positive feedback from the workshops of the World Forum on Higher Education, Science and Knowledge to policy planning and implementation in the Baltics. We would like to thank every country and in particular Sweden for the financial support they provide to the forum work and look forward to successful future interdisciplinary activities that will be undertaken within forum.
In the field of science Latvia is happy to learn the results of the overall review of the Science programmes. We believe that the recommendations of the commission should be seriously taken into account and implemented. We should recognize that science, as well as culture contributes significantly to the world progress, social security and life-long learning. These are also the principles which are stressed in the new policy documents in Latvia. Therefore we believe that the nature of science and culture requests us to think interdisciplinary and this should be the major principle in the work of UNESCO.
During the last biennium Latvia has paid a great importance to the implementation of the convention for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage. We highly appreciate the work that UNESCO undertakes in this field. We would like to point out also the important role of UNESCO in ensuring the preservation of heritage which is a very special face of UNESCO and therefore should be further promoted. It is either important to emphasize the role of culture in building the peace in the minds of men as it is stated in the Constitution of UNESCO. Building the dialogue among the nations has always been a priority for Latvia and the project Caucasus has been evidence from the side of the three Baltic States.
Mr President! I would like to finish my statement expressing Latvia's support to the work of UNESCO in the follow-up activities of the World Summit on the Information Society. The summit has given important roadmap in building knowledge societies. Some of the issues UNESCO was advocating during the summit soon will become reality. I refer to internationalized domain names which will facilitate access to Internet to many people around the world. New technologies open new possibilities also in management of organization and Latvian delegation intends to explore how use of ICTs can make the management of UNESCO more efficient.
Thank you!