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| Mehriban Aliyeva welcomes the UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura in Azerbaijan |
28-08-2005 3:30 pm From 23 to 26 August 2005, Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura paid his second official visit to Azerbaijan at the invitation of President Ilham Aliyev and the First Lady, Mrs Mehriban Aliyeva, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Oral and Musical Traditions. During his stay in Azerbaijan, the Director-General participated with President Aliyev and Mrs Aliyeva in the ceremony of laying the foundation stone for a Mugham Centre. In his speech, the Director-General paid tribute to the efforts of Mrs Mehriban Aliyeva, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Oral and Musical Traditions, in promoting the traditional classical music of Azerbaijan at the international level.
The Director-General’s visit coincided with the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Foundation “Friends of Azerbaijani Culture” chaired by Mrs Aliyeva, on the occasion of which several UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors – Mr Patrick Baudry, Mr Miguel Angel Estrella, Mr Ivry Gitlis, Mr Omer Zülfü Livaneli, Mr Kitin Muñoz, Ms Kim Phuc Phan Thi and Mr Madanjeet Singh - had traveled to Baku. Ivry Gitlis and Miguel Angel Estrella gave concerts, which delighted the audience.
Mr Matsuura also visited another Foundation, “Heydar Aliyev”, under the First Lady’s chairmanship, as well as the Walled City of Baku, inscribed on the World Heritage List, and the site of Gobustan, which is on Azerbaijan’s Tentative List of potential nominations to the World Heritage List.
During their bilateral talks, President Aliyev and the Director-General expressed their satisfaction about the past cooperation between the Republic of Azerbaijan and UNESCO, especially as concerns the field of culture. Referring to the proclamation of Azerbaijani Mugham as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2003, the Director-General paid tribute to the rich cultural heritage of Azerbaijan and encouraged the authorities to ratify the 2003 Convention on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. As concerns the Walled City of Baku with the Shirvanshah’s Palace and Maiden Tower, which was inscribed on the World Heritage List in Danger in 2003, Mr Matsuura assured the President of the dispatch of a UNESCO expert mission to assist the authorities in the elaboration of a comprehensive Management Plan to address conservation issues, development control and tourism management in order to ensure the future preservation of the property.
President Aliyev and the Director-General explored ways and means of strengthening Azerbaijan/UNESCO cooperation further, notably in the field of education. UNESCO’s engagement in the field will be broadened from technical and vocational education and ICTs for education to support of the Azerbaijani Education Commission established by the President to improve the quality of education. At the closure of their talks, the President and the Director-General signed a joint Communiqué outlining these areas of future cooperation. In recognition of Mr Matsuura’s contribution to the promotion of cultural heritage and his support to the reform of the education system of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the President awarded the Director-General with the highest distinction of the country, the Order of Glory.
On 24 August, the Director-General, together with the First Lady; Mr Misir Mardanov, Minister of Education; Mr Marco Borsotti, UN Resident Coordinator; and Mr Ali Hasanov, Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan, opened a conference on the education system of Azerbaijan. This conference followed up on a recent meeting organized at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris to discuss past achievements in the reform of the Azerbaijani education system and the proposals that will be most viable for furthering the educational reform agenda.
In his speech at the opening of the conference on education, the Director-General expressed UNESCO’s readiness to assist the Azerbaijani authorities in making the reform policy a success. The priority areas identified were reflected in the Memorandum of Cooperation that the Director-General signed with the Minister of Education after the opening ceremony of the conference.
Throughout his stay in Azerbaijan, the Director-General was accompanied by Mr Polad Bülbülboglu, Minister of Culture; Mr Misir Mardanov, Minister of Education; and Mr Abulfaz Harayev, Minister of Sports, Tourism and Youth, as well as by Ambassador Eleonora Hüseynova, Permanent Delegate of Azerbaijan to UNESCO.
Photo: Mrs Mehriban Aliyeva, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Oral and Musical Traditions, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, and Mrs Matsuura, in Baku, Azerbaijan
Read more about Mehriban Aliyeva and her activities for UNESCO
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