UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC
AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION (UNESCO)

Address by H. E. Professor Michael Abiola Omolewa
President of the General Conference of UNESCO
Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria to UNESCO
during the Information meeting for Permanent
Delegations concerning the 33rd Session of
UNESCO's General Conference
Room XI (Fontenoy) Paris, France:
UNESCO Headquarters
13 September, 2005

My dear colleagues:

Welcome to this information meeting which has been convoked as a contribution to the preparations for the forthcoming 33rd Session of the General Conference.

Firstly, in a general way, I am happy at the proliferation we have recently witnessed, of a series of opportunities for Permanent Delegations to come together and informally exchange views and ideas, consult, try out ideas, thoughts and even innovative proposals which, why not, may eventually become the beginning of proposals and projects which can contribute to finding solutions to some of the many concerns we continually face, in the never-ending search for a more efficient UNESCO.

Specifically, as concerns the preparations for the General Conference and the role of Permanent Delegations in its running, there can never be too much efforts made to help ensure that adequate and clear information is available to you, for the important job of guiding and serving your national delegations to the conference. This is an important opportunity for ensuring clarity in the presentation and understanding of the details of the procedures, the roles of the principal actors, in fact all the actors and the general running of the Conference.

However these are details that will be presented and adequately explained to you by the efficient team that is here with us today. The roles of the key officers of the Conference, that is, the constitutional roles will also be presented to you; among them, will be that of the President of the General Conference.

Therefore what I am seeking to achieve, in the few moments we shall spend together today, is not to give you an expatiation on the role of the President as written in the “books” so to say, but to share with you some of the de facto, real, experiences that I was called upon to “live” in the fulfilment of the duties of the President of the General Conference in the last two years.

Of course, you all know that in the period between two General Conferences, the President serves as the temporary chairman of the Executive Board and conducts the election of its chairperson at the first meeting of the Board. He sits, ex officio, on the Executive Board as an adviser to that body, in the pursuance of its responsibilities as the emanation of the General Conference, charged with ensuring the rational implementation of the decisions of the General Conference.

My experience is that, this very wise provision serves two very important purposes. On the one hand it gives the President of the General Conference the opportunity for keeping in touch with the unfolding of the Programme approved by the Conference, as the Secretariat and the Member States engage in its implementation.

On the other hand, the President’s participation in the work of the Executive Board – albeit in an ex-officio capacity and without a vote – is a most valuable mechanism for giving the President the opportunity for keeping the members of the Executive Board, and through them, the Member States at large, as well as the Secretariat, informed of his or her activities in support of the Organization and its Programme.

The role of the President of the General Conference as manager of its debate is in fact only the tip of the iceberg. When you consider for example that the President is also the chairperson of the General Committee, in other words the steering committee of the conference, you will begin to realize the complexity of the position which at first sight could erroneously be considered routine. The role of the President of the General Conference as the chief electoral officer at the General Conference can be challenging. His coordination of the work of the different commissions and committees brings with it difficulties which could sometimes prove intransigent and disruptive. There are also different interests and demands that need to be attended to, in order to ensure a smooth running conference. It is hardly-ever easy for the President of the Conference to be equally, and at all times at the disposal of all the interests that constantly call for attention and satisfaction during the session. Consequently, constant negotiations and various informal and anticipatory efforts are sometimes are called for, to deal with sensitive and difficult issues before they get out of hand. These form a major part of the unwritten duties the President is called upon to perform to ensure a smooth and efficient Conference.

Dear colleagues and friends:

My experience is that the end of the General Conference rather than being the moment for repose, is indeed the signal for the Secretariat and Member States to burst into action of preparation for the implementation of the many decisions and recommendations adopted by the General Conference. Apart from the Secretariat, the centres of action move to the many Member States, to sub-regional and regional centres, as the work of the biennium begin to take shape all around the world.

I have been humbled by the enormity and the extense and depth of UNESCO’s vocation as I was drawn into taking the UNESCO message to many of these centres of activities involved in the fulfilment of UNESCO’s mandate in concert with its many Member States.

I was called upon to support and participate in activities, taking place at Headquarters, and covering practically all the Sectors and disciplines of UNESCO; in Education, in Science, in Culture, Communication and the Social Sciences. Some of these were activities of a global nature, like the Intergovernmental meeting of Experts on the Preliminary Draft Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Contents and Artistic Expression. Others were of regional interest like the First meeting at Headquarters of the Forum of African regional and sub-regional organizations to support cooperation between UNESCO and NEPAD (the New Partnership for Africa Development).

But I am happy to say that the bulk of UNESCO-related activities I endeavoured to support in reply to requests and invitations, took place in Member states themselves. And they were spread out on all continents and regions of the World; - from meetings in South Africa of the World Heritage Committee, to the meeting of the Caribbean States in Dominica, and later in Senegal and Kazan in the Russian Federation on cultural matters, and on the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage; from International Congress on Inter-religious Dialogue in Nigeria and an International Conference on Intercultural Dialogue and the Culture of Peace in GABON, to the 28th Session of the World Heritage Committee in CHINA, to TOKYO for a UNESCO/OECD programme on “Guidelines on Quality Provision in Cross-Border Higher Education” which was organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, to the First World Conference on Literacy in Havana, Cuba, the meeting to celebrate the abolition of slavery in Haiti, to a cultural visit to the Vatican where together with colleagues we were able to have an audience with the Pope.

These are just a few examples of the ways in which the Presidency of the General Conference is called upon, to contribute to keeping alive the spirit and momentum for action, generated at the Conference, through involvement with their implementation, both at the Headquarters, in Member States and in all regions, in fulfilment of the approved programme adopted by the General Conference.

Dear colleagues and friends:

The problem of efficiency in performance by the Organizations of the UN System continue to be a preoccupation common to all the member organizations of the system. Effective cooperation and coordination within the system have come to be recognized as a must, for the achievement of an orderly progress and greater efficiency. This naturally demands of us more consultations and closer cooperation., It is in the search for a viable contribution to this that I visited the United Nations Secretariat, the very centre of the System and had exchange of ideas with the Secretary-General on some of the achievements as well as the concerns that are common to UNESCO and the United Nations.

I was also able to meet with the Presidents of the 58th and 59th Sessions of the General Assembly H.E. Mr. Julian R. Hunte and H.E. Mr. Jean Ping. As a result of these contacts, we were able to invite H.E. Mr. Jean Ping who is also the Foreign Minister of Gabon and ex Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, to visit UNESCO to share with us in Paris very useful information on the progress of the process of UN Review and Reform which he had been chairing. I have indeed been greatly encouraged by the welcome these gestures of seeking to work more closely together have received. Just as I have been elated by their positive results.

I hope I have been able to paint for you in these few minutes, a picture of the reality of performing the role of the President of the General Conference; what it demands, what it can achieve and the extent of the expectations of the Member States as regards its duties.

Finally I hope that the rich and varied information that you will receive today will prove to be useful and helpful and will effectively facilitate your important not-always-easy task, each and every one of you, for a very successful General Conference which is what I wish you, with all my heart. Thank you for your attention.

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