Paris, October 5 - The 160th session of UNESCO's Executive Board, chaired by Sonia Mendieta de Badaroux (Honduras), will open Monday at Organization Headquarters. The Board, whose session ends October 25, will examine Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura's preliminary proposals concerning the Organization's draft Medium Term Strategy for 2002-2007 and the draft Programme and Budget for 2002-2003 which reflects the first phase of the Strategy.

The Executive Board - which meets twice a year to examine the implementation of decisions adopted by the General Conference, UNESCO's supreme ruling body - will also focus on the following items: the implementation of and follow-up to the Framework for Action of the World Education Forum (Dakar, April 2000); the reorientation of UNESCO's programmes in the sciences to take account of the conclusions of the World Conference on Science (Budapest, June 1999); and the proclamation by UNESCO of masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.

The 58 members of the Executive Board will also be informed of progress in UNESCO's reform process. During the last session, the Director-General outlined his reform project for the Organization and he will now present the Board with a plan of action and timetable for the administrative reform, including decentralisation, restructuring at Headquarters and rationalisation.