Addresses delivered in the general policy debate by the Head of Delegation at the General Conference
37 session of the General Conference
His Excellency, Mr Shiferaw Shegute, Minister of Education of Ethiopia 
Speech delivered during the General Policy Debate of the 37th session of the General Conference - revised and corrected version of the verbatim records of plenary meetings36 session of the General Conference
H.E. Mr Kaba Urgessa, Minister of Education Speech delivered during the General Policy Debate of the 36th session of the General Conference and posted as received35 session of the General Conference
Mrs Mahlet Hailu, Chargée d´Affaires, Representative of Ethiopia at the 35th General Conference of UNESCO“(…) Ethiopia endorses the US 653 million budget ceiling for the 2010-2011 biennium although it is by no means sufficient to reasonably address the various programmes that we need to carry out. At the same time we would like to stress the importance of finding new ways of raising fund for our programmes from potential partners including the private sector. We also want to see a coherent and well-formulated approach by the Organization and its field offices in fund raising.”
“(…) The use of various mother tongues as media of instruction and the relative size of marginalized populations, such as persons with disabilities and children coming from poor homes should also be considered in devising more effective strategies for achieving EFA. In this regard, we consider the South-South Cooperation in Education to be an important means of sharing useful experiences, but we also recognize the significance of collaboration by the North.”
“(…) Beyond national efforts, Ethiopia in collaboration with the African Union and UNESCO is organizing the Ninth High-Level Group Meeting on EFA in February 2010 in Addis Ababa. In this regard, we would like to call on all relevant partners to join our efforts for the success of the meeting. Furthermore, Ethiopia remains committed to enhancing the activities of IICBA.”
“(…) Pertaining to science, our main concern is the issue of climate change and its negative impact world-wide and on developing countries in particular. We welcome the decision of the 182nd Session of the Executive Board, which called upon the Director-General to make the necessary consultations with the concerned and also to consider the conclusions of the UN Conference on Climate Change in December 2009 in Copenhagen in preparing a report to the 185th session of the Board.”
“(…) Ethiopia gives high importance to the 2011 International Year of Chemistry for which UNESCO is the lead Agency.”
“(…) Concerning culture, our major concern is the advancement of the inscription of World Heritage sites as well as the conservation and promotion of the existing ones. The promotion of cultural industries should be given major attention to help advance the development efforts of member states, particularly the developing countries.”
“(…) It is particularly important to narrow down the digital divide between the developed and developing countries by facilitating cooperation between member states. The use of ICT for promoting UNESCO’s activities particularly in relation to EFA should also be advanced.”
“(…) Regarding administration and management, the decentralization process needs close monitoring and adjustment depending on outcomes of previous efforts and constraints with a view to achieve greater efficiency and better coordination of activities. My delegation puts emphasis on the availability of adequate expertise in UNESCO’s field offices to work closely with national offices, a much closer working relations of field offices with national commissions.”
34 session of the General Conference
S.E. Dr Sentayehu Wolde Mikael, Minister of Education“We warmly welcome the return of Singapore to UNESCO and Montenegro’s membership of UNESCO.”
“My delegation is firmly behind African Priority, which must be backed up by robust actions that result in concrete outcomes. Moreover, faced with the need to ensure that we have some reasonable budget to continue implementing UNESCO’s most cherished goals, including Education For All and the Millennium Development Goals, we appreciate the Director-General’s efforts to achieve an increase in the budgetary resources of the Organization, and endorse the $631 million budget ceiling for the 2008-2009 biennium.”
“With respect to education, my delegation would like to see intensive activities in terms of improving quality of education at all levels.”
“Concerning culture, one important concern is the situation of world heritages in danger. Although the causes for the problem are varied, many heritages face such risks because of age and climate change. We therefore feel that strategies be developed jointly not just for rectifying the condition of those already in the endangered list but also for preventing deterioration among the others.”
“In the natural sciences […] one issue we would like to emphasize is disaster prevention and reconstruction. To us, one of the overriding challenges in this area is to find ways of dealing with the causal factors, which at least to some degree relate to global climate change. Another area of concern is renewable energy.”
“In the social and human sciences, we appreciate UNESCO’s effort in promoting intercultural dialogue and social research, particularly as they relate to policy development. […] Concerning policy research, we feel that it is important for UNESCO to assist in promoting the link between research, policy development, and policy evaluation, especially in developing countries.”
“Regarding information and communication, we believe that ICT will be a useful, though insufficient, tool for fostering the knowledge society. We further feel that greater support to training in ICT comprising not just the technical but also the innovative and ethical use of it is a basic consideration in such efforts.”
“We believe that UNESCO should play its roles effectively in its areas of comparative advantage in the United Nations reform of “Delivering as One” in a way that would actually enhance both its performance and image. […] We are hoping that the reform will, in actual practice, facilitate programme implementation in country priority areas and in the work of the UNESCO National Commissions. We also feel that UNESCO’s close relation with the African Union should be strengthened. We therefore appreciate very much all actions that the Director-General has been taking in this direction. We also trust that the draft action plan for implementing UNESCO’s resolution to expedite the development of science and technology in Africa will get the maximum support by all concerned.”
“My delegation also trusts that the Director-General will continue to give attention, as a matter of priority, to the recommendations by the UNESCO Committee for NEPAD. The quest for regional integration as pronounced, for example, in the Accra Conference of Heads of State of the African Union, is something that can serve as a framework in UNESCO’s contributions to Africa from the point of the different sectors.”
Ethiopia
