News
Media development: UNESCO’s IPDC elects new members to its Bureau
Mr Raúl Fernandez Daza, Permanent Delegate of Chile to UNESCO and Ambassador to France, assumes the role of Chair of the IPDC Council and Bureau. He is the first IPDC Chair ever to be appointed from Latin America. In his acceptance speech, he highlighted the increasing relevance and significance of IPDC's commitment.
This appointment is of particular importance for Chile, given our commitment to promoting freedom of expression, media independence and pluralism, and the construction of knowledge societies. This commitment takes on increasing importance in a world where new technologies lead an almost daily revolution.
The newly elected Vice-Chairs are Ghana, Indonesia, The Netherlands, Lithuania, Uruguay, and Yemen. Mr Mikhail Gusman from the Russian Federation was elected as Rapporteur.
The Bureau election followed the recent election of new members to the IPDC Intergovernmental Council, composed of 38 Member States, during UNESCO's 42nd General Conference session earlier this month.
The members elected to the Council for the term 2023 – 2027 are: Austria, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chile, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Estonia, Ghana, Guinea, Indonesia, Luxembourg, Madagascar, The Netherlands (Kingdom of), Norway, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northen Ireland, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), and Yemen.
UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, Mr Tawfik Jelassi, thanked the outgoing Bureau, under the leadership of its Chair Ambassador Anna Brandt, for the tremendous work accomplished. Regarding the new members of IPDC’s highest governing body, he stated:
I trust that this new Council will work together to spearhead collective solutions through both IPDC’s normative platform and its ongoing support for grassroots projects.
The 38-member Council meets every two years to guide the planning and implementation of the Programme, and review and assess achievements. The Bureau meets annually, and is in charge of project selection, fund allocation, and budget approval for the IPDC.
