Vučić at the 43rd UNESCO General Conference: Serbia is proud to have been an active member from the beginning

&ldquo;Serbia is proud to have been an active member of the prestigious UNESCO family from the very beginning. We are proud of the wealth of our country&rsquo;s cultural, historical, and natural heritage, much of which has been recognized and included on the UNESCO World Heritage List. We do not see this only as recognition of our rich history and tradition, but also as a great responsibility and obligation to preserve, protect, and nurture our cultural heritage for future generations.Serbia will, as it has always done, continue to make a constructive contribution and will do everything possible to help UNESCO uphold its core mandate of building and preserving peace through education, science, culture, and communication,&rdquo; Vučić wrote on Instagram. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Aleksandar Vučić (@buducnostsrbijeav) The 43rd General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) began today in Samarkand. During the two-week session, a new Secretary-General of the organization is expected to be elected, and the first global recommendation on the ethics of neurotechnologies is anticipated to be adopted.The President of the General Conference, Konder M. Tala from Bangladesh, welcomed the participants, as well as the Presidents of the host country Uzbekistan, Serbia&rsquo;s Aleksandar Vučić, and Slovakia&rsquo;s Peter Pellegrini. He highlighted the significance of Samarkand, noting that it lies at the crossroads of civilizations.TANJUG/ TANJUG VIDEO/bs &ldquo;For centuries, it has attracted travelers, scientists, and artists who brought with them ideas, languages, and traditions. Scholars like Al-Biruni, a master whose contributions to mathematics, geography, and astronomy remain relevant in today&rsquo;s world. Also, Ibn Sina, whose name is synonymous with medicine. By promoting dialogue and understanding, this city embodied the spirit of UNESCO long before our organization existed,&rdquo; he said.UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, who at the beginning of her speech specifically welcomed the presidents of Serbia and Slovakia, Aleksandar Vučić and Peter Pellegrini, emphasized that the General Conference will soon elect a new Director-General who will assume office in a few days. She highlighted that the fight for culture, whose central role has been reaffirmed even in the heart of conflicts&mdash;from Ukraine to Yemen&mdash;aims to place it at the center of public policy as a global public good.&ldquo;This trust in culture is increasingly shared, as evidenced by the growing number of countries acceding to our cultural conventions&mdash;80 more states in the last eight years. We have also supported more than 50 restitutions of cultural property, and much remains to be done to help heal memories, support research, and ensure that people, by returning these items, regain a sense of their stolen souls. Together, we have also given concrete form to our priority in Africa. We have strategically and financially committed to balancing the ongoing historical inequity,&rdquo; she said.According to her, thanks to an eightfold increase in funding, particularly from the Global Partnership for Education since 2018, these resources&mdash;augmented by 80 percent&mdash;have enabled the implementation of major projects in Cambodia, C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire, and also in Chad, for programs the organization will launch this year.&ldquo;Universal education remains our goal, and sometimes even our struggle, as in Afghanistan, where the Taliban tirelessly try to deprive millions of women and girls of the right to education and access to everything they need. We will continue to fight for gender equality, a strategic priority of our organization, to which we now devote nearly 20 percent of our budget,&rdquo; she said.She also noted that UNESCO has been able to adapt to the most urgent and important needs of its member states, including intervention in crisis environments, which are increasing.&ldquo;We also intervene in the heart of the conflict in Ukraine, using all areas of our mandate, from cultural protection to teacher training and volunteer support. In Syria, I am pleased to announce a new initiative for the rehabilitation of the Museum in Aleppo, thanks to the support of Italy, which I thank, following the initiative implemented for the National Museum in Duma,&rdquo; Azoulay said.She added that it has been 40 years since the UNESCO General Conference was last held outside Paris and emphasized that more than 4,500 accredited representatives from 181 countries are present&mdash;more than at the last General Conference.&ldquo;This means the whole world is gathered here. This city is a mythical place whose geography and history advocate dialogue and exchange against the too frequent temptation of division. Samarkand is a place of trade where a given word is never withdrawn,&rdquo; she said.President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev specifically thanked the presence of the Presidents of Serbia and Slovakia, Aleksandar Vučić and Peter Pellegrini, highlighting UNESCO as a leading global institution in promoting education, science, culture, arts, and information, as well as encouraging international cooperation, mutual trust, and solidarity.&ldquo;The role of the organization in preserving national identity, protecting heritage, and promoting interreligious dialogue continues to grow. In today&rsquo;s rapidly changing world, the weakening of global consensus and multilateral cooperation in the humanitarian sphere naturally raises deep concern,&rdquo; said the President of Uzbekistan. According to him, due to geopolitical tensions and armed conflicts, many unique monuments, sacred sites, and priceless cultural heritage worldwide suffer significant damage, while the gap between countries in access to knowledge, technology, and digital resources widens, deepening inequality and poverty.&ldquo;Such complex circumstances require us to unite our efforts more than ever to fully implement UNESCO&rsquo;s main objectives. We reaffirm our strong commitment to the noble and humanitarian goals of the organization. We are ready to serve as a bridge of harmony between East and West, North and South, an open and constructive platform for dialogue and cooperation among all,&rdquo; Mirziyoyev said.He also announced several accompanying events within the General Conference in Samarkand, including the First Biennale of Contemporary Art in ancient Bukhara, the opening of a regional center for preschool education in Tashkent, the award ceremony for the UNESCO International Prize Uzbekistan Abu Rayhan Biruni, as well as an International Forum on the Role of Artificial Intelligence in Museums.&ldquo;Achieving UNESCO&rsquo;s global goals elevates our multilateral cooperation to a new stage. This is the call of our time,&rdquo; he said. Mirziyoyev presented several proposals on key agenda points, highlighting the development of inclusive education and broad integration of artificial intelligence technologies into the educational process as an urgent task of our time.He also stressed the importance of ensuring equal access to quality education for every child, regardless of physical or social conditions, proposing the establishment of a UNESCO platform for developing inclusive education for children with special needs.&ldquo;We believe you will support our plan to convene a world summit on vocational education to create an international framework for dialogue and exchange of knowledge and experience in the field of education. Training a new generation skilled in information technologies and creative thinking is our main priority. To integrate artificial intelligence into education, we are ready to implement a model AI school project in Uzbekistan in cooperation with UNESCO. He also proposed holding an international expert forum on AI ethics, which would bring together representatives from leading universities, pedagogical institutions, and research institutes from all continents, strengthening joint efforts in preserving global intangible cultural heritage and further developing UNESCO&rsquo;s Memory of the World program, which ensures the preservation and accessibility of oral folklore, manuscripts, archives, historical documents, and cultural data.&ldquo;We also propose establishing an international institute for digital heritage within UNESCO&rsquo;s structure. It is particularly important to actively launch global programs aimed at developing female leadership and competencies. Effective joint action in combating the climate crisis is another urgent issue, as the significant rise in average temperatures, glacier melting, desertification, soil erosion, and urbanization processes have a serious impact on the state of cultural heritage,&rdquo; he said.He added that it is important to enhance media literacy, analytical thinking, and protection against manipulation, hence the need for a comprehensive organizational strategy on media and information literacy.&ldquo;Another important issue is the need to promote universal human values such as tolerance, mutual understanding, and harmony at a time when interreligious conflicts are intensifying worldwide. By promoting the culture and enlightenment of Islam, we can effectively fight radicalism and Islamophobia,&rdquo; he said.This year&rsquo;s conference focuses on digital transformation and the application of artificial intelligence in the protection of cultural heritage, education for sustainable development, the role of youth in climate action, and the promotion of gender equality. Delegations from more than 200 countries and international organizations will attend. The 43rd UNESCO General Conference is held from October 30 to November 13, during which key documents determining UNESCO&rsquo;s budget and work program for the next period will be adopted, and member states will elect members of the Executive Board and the new Director-General of the organization.The event is taking place at the &ldquo;Silk Road&rdquo; Congress Center in Samarkand, and for the first time in more than 40 years, the UNESCO General Conference is held outside Paris, which represents a major international event and recognition of Uzbekistan&rsquo;s cultural role. The choice of Samarkand, one of the oldest and most magnificent cities in the world, gives special symbolic significance and reflects the high level of international trust in Uzbekistan and its growing global reputation. UNESCO is a UN specialized agency, established in 1945, with the goal of promoting peace and security through international cooperation in education, science, culture, and communications.

Vučić at the 43rd UNESCO General Conference: Serbia is proud to have been an active member from the beginning

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