In the meeting preceding this ceremony, the Director-General welcomed the President to UNESCO and expressed his appreciation for the President’s personal participation in the High-level Symposium “Building Knowledge Societies – from Vision to Action” that UNESCO had organized during the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva in December 2003.

The President highlighted the importance Latvia attached to intangible cultural heritage. She informed the Director-General of the organization of the International Conference on Intangible Cultural Heritage in Riga from 28 June to 3 July 2005 and of the Latvian initiative to prepare a travelling exhibition on the Baltic tradition of song and dance festivals that had been proclaimed a masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of the Humanity in November 2003.

The Director-General thanked the President for Latvia’s contribution towards the rehabilitation of the Iraqi cultural heritage, notably the financial support to the project on documentation with photogrammetry. Mr Matsuura described the UNESCO’s past and present activities in the fields of education and culture in Iraq and expressed his regrets that the safety situation did not allow for a more active presence of the international community in the country.

As concerns the World Summit on the Information Society, the Director-General highlighted the importance of focussing on the implementation of the Plan of Action in the run up to the 2nd phase of the Summit which will be held in Tunis in 2005.