UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC
Address by His Excellency: Ambassador Michael Omolewa
Excellencies,
____
AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION (UNESCO)
President: 32nd Session of UNESCO's General Conference
and Temporary President: 33rd Session of the General
Conference of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization - to welcome:
H. E. Mrs. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga:
President of the Democratic Socialist Republic
of Sri Lanka
And
H. E. Mr. John Agyekum Kufuor:
President of the Republic
of Ghana
Paris, France: 3 October, 2005
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
It has become one of the proud traditions of UNESCO that we welcome,
throughout the sessions of the General Conference, a number of
distinguished personalities among the world’s leaders, and invite
them to address the Conference. This is particularly true for the
opening session of each General Conference.
It therefore gives me very great pleasure to welcome, on behalf
of the Organization, and on behalf of all of you in this room,
Her Excellency Mrs. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, President
of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, and His
Excellency Mr. John Agyekum Kufuor, President of the
Republic of Ghana.
May I first address myself to you, Madam, and maybe extend a
particular welcome back “home” to Paris, where you undertook
a major part of your studies, and where you have kept many
friends. You represent a proud tradition in your country for
female leadership; and you have also shown great personal
courage in following a family vocation for high political
office, in full acceptance of the high price that must
sometimes be paid for this. I commend you for your long,
and very distinguished, political career, and for the
major contribution you have made, through your studies
and publications in the fields of social science and
development, both to the development of Sri Lanka, and
to the international dialogue. Your personal commitment
to the welfare of the under privileged, and to the
promotion of a pluralistic society, is well known,
and much appreciated.
Your Excellency, I can obviously not address you without
remembering the terrible catastrophe that struck your
country and people in last December. After Indonesia,
Sir Lanka is the second country, which was most severely
hit by the deadly tsunami, with almost 31,000 people
killed. My personal sympathy and compassion go to all
those that were struck by the loss of loved ones, or the
loss of property. We may, however, find some consolation
in the fact that the international community – Governments,
international organizations, and the private sector alike –
reacted in a both speedy and effective, and most generous
manner, thereby helping the victims of the disaster to
begin their long and painful way towards the reconstruction
of their lives. I am also proud to recall that UNESCO is
very much in the forefront in the creation, or reinforcement,
of measures that may help mitigate, or even prevent, such
disasters in the future – and very early after the disaster
created a UNESCO antenna in Colombo to help assess
the damage and extend concrete assistance to the
local populations.
Madam, in addition to your high office as President of your
country, you are also concurrently Minister of Education.
In this connection, I wish to pay particular tribute to
you for the impressive achievements of Sri Lanka in the
field of basic education. Your country devotes 10% of its
budget to education; and your progress towards the targets
set in Dakar for achieving Education for All, and laid down
in the Millennium Development Goals, is significant: 92.5%
of adults are now literate, gender parity is practically
achieved; and primary and secondary net enrolment ratios
are 95% and 77.6% respectively. It is a true pleasure,
Your Excellency, to have you with us; and I am confident
that the statement you shall be making in a few moments
will be a major inspiration to us all.
And now it is yet another source of pride and honour for me
to introduce our second distinguished guest, President John
Agyekum Kufuor: You are a lawyer, a politician, an
administrator, a civil servant and a nation builder. Mr.
President, your impressive record as Chief Legal Officer
and Town (City Manager) Clerk Kumasi, your notable
contribution to the drafting of the constitution of your
country, your membership of the Parliament of your country
and your ministerial experience were milestones on your
journey to the Presidency, which you have now occupied since
January 2001. You are of course no stranger to International
Organizations such as ours, having led Ghana’s delegation to
several international gatherings, among them to the United
Nations General Assembly in New York, the Organization of
African Unity Ministerial Meetings in Addis Ababa, and the
Summit of the Non-Alliegned Movement.
Mr. President, you have worked relentlessly, resolutely,
firmly and effectively, continuing the tradition laid
very early at the independence of your country, for
discipline, coherence and unity. We are proud to see
the manner in which you have confirmed Ghana as one of
the shining examples of Africa’s capability for progress,
development, transparency, dedication and commitment.
You are on record, as a leader, who has devoted as high
as 40% of your national budget to education. Under your
leadership, good governance, rule of law respect for
fundamental freedom and democracy have become the
cornerstones of your government. It is a great
pleasure to welcome to UNESCO on your behalf this
symbol of nobility, former Chairman of the Economic
Commission for West African States and the President
of Ghana. President John Agyekum Kufuor.
Excellencies, distinguished Delegates, Ladies and
Gentlemen, please join me now in extending our warmest
welcome to our two prestigious guests, the Presidents
of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka,
and of the Republic of Ghana.
Thank you! And I shall now give the floor to Her
Excellency, President Chandrika Bandaranaike
Kumaratunga of the Democratic Socialist Republic
of Sri Lanka. You have the floor, Madam.