Azerbaijan chairs UNESCO meeting

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

A meeting of the Second Election Group chaired by Azerbaijan has been held at the UNESCO headquarters.

The meeting, chaired by Azerbaijan's Permanent Representative to UNESCO, Ambassador Elman Abdullayev, was attended by the UNESCO Assistant Director-General for the Social and Human Sciences Gabriela Ramos and many others, Azertag reported.

After the approval of the agenda, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to UNESCO Alexander Kuznetsov made a statement on the results of the 212th session of the Executive Council as Vice-President of the Second Election Group of the UNESCO Executive Council.

Next, Gabriela Ramos briefed on the activities of the sector led by UNESCO during the General Conference and the activities to be carried out within the General Conference.

She expressed hope that UNESCO's recommendations on the ethics of artificial intelligence would be adopted at the forthcoming General Conference, and called on countries to vote for the adoption of these recommendations.

Touching upon intercultural dialogue, Gabriela Ramos thanked Azerbaijan for the Baku Process and spoke about the country's support for UNESCO in the field of intercultural dialogue.

The meeting continued with speeches and exchange of views by representatives of member countries.

The sides agreed that Bulgaria will be the next chairman of the Second Election Group from January, 2022.

Azerbaijan and UNESCO have been enjoying successful cooperation since 1992.

In 2003, the parties signed the framework agreement on cooperation in the areas of culture, science, education, and communication, which allowed Azerbaijan to become one of the donors of UNESCO.

Many Azerbaijani cultural sites have been included in UNESCO's World Heritage List.

Icherisheher (Old City), Maiden Tower, and Shirvanshah's palace were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000, while since 2007 the Gobustan National Historical-Artistic reserve was also listed among these heritages.

Shaki, an important city at the crossroads of the historic Silk Roads was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List during the 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee held in Baku.

In 2017, UNESCO recognized Azerbaijan's dolma as the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Art of crafting and playing with kamancha, presented jointly by Azerbaijan and Iran, was also inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Moreover, the Pomegranate Festival, Art of miniature were inscribed in UNESCO Representative List in December 2020.

UNESCO also successfully celebrated the 600th anniversary of the death of the great Azerbaijani poet and thinker Imadaddin Nasimi and the 200th anniversary of the first settlement of Germans in Azerbaijan.