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Visit
of UNESCO Director-General to Dominica
UNESCO
Director-General, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, paid his first official
visit to the Commonwealth of Dominica.
The
Director-General, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, paid his first official
visit to Dominica from 17 to 19 February 2005. It was the first
official visit of a UNESCO Director-General to the country. He
was welcomed by Mr Julian Johnson, Member of the Executive Board.
Mr
Matsuura met with the President, Mr Nicholas J.O. Liverpool and
other senior members of the Government, including Mr Vincent Henderson,
acting Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Human Resources
Development, Sports & Youth Affairs, Mr Herbert Sabaroche, Minister
of Health and Social Security, Mr Ambrose George, Minister of
Agriculture and Environment; and Ms Loreen Bannis-Roberts, acting
Minister of Education and Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry
of Education. He also attended a meeting of Cabinet Ministers,
chaired by Mr Henderson.
A
wide range of issues were discussed to strengthen cooperation
between UNESCO and Dominica and, in particular the safeguarding
of cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible, the preservation
of the Man and Biosphere Reserves and disaster preparedness. The
Director-General appreciated the beauty of "The Nature Island"
covered by lush rainforest, in the course of his visits to the
Morne Trois Pitons World Heritage Site - Emerald Pool and to the
Syndicate biodiversity Trail/Parrot Sanctuary.
The
Director-General also participated in the joint Dominica Government/UNESCO
ceremony to launch the Regional Conference on Intangible Cultural
Heritage with a cultural presentation of the rich Dominican folklore
hosted by the Head of State.
During
his visit to the Carib Territory, the Director-General met the
Carib (Kalinago) Chief, Mr Charles Williams, and launched two
UNESCO cross-cutting Theme Projects in association with the Dominica
National Commission for UNESCO: the Youth Poverty Alleviation
Project through Tourism and Heritage (Youth PATH), and the Integrated
Community Media project for Indigenous Communities in the Caribbean,
at the Carib Model Village. On this occasion, the acting Prime
Minister and Minister of Education, Human Resources Development,
Sports & Youth Affairs announced the intention of Dominica to
ratify the International Convention for the Safeguarding of the
Intangible Cultural Heritage (Paris, 17 October 2003).
Mr
Matsuura also met NGO's leaders in Dominica; the children of the
ASPnet Sandwatch Programme of Dublanc Primary School, aware of
the importance of a clean environment, who collect garbage material
to develop their own creative art; and he visited the Workshop
for the blind and Dominica Association of Disabled People (DADP).
Flash
Info n°027-2005, UNESCO
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