Dr. Ayman Ashour, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Chairman of the Egyptian National Commission for UNESCO and Egypt’s representative at the Executive Council of UNESCO delivered the speech of the Arab Republic of Egypt before the Executive Council of UNESCO at its 219th session. The session was attended by Ms. Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, and Ambassador Santiago Irazabal Mourão, President of the General Conference of UNESCO in its 42nd session, Mrs. Tamara Rastovac, President of the Executive Board of UNESCO, Ambassador Alaa El-Din Youssef, Egyptian Ambassador to France and Permanent Representative of Egypt to UNESCO, and Dr. Sherif Saleh, Head of the Cultural Affairs and Missions Sector and Supervisor of the Egyptian National Commission for UNESCO. The session also witnessed the participation of many ambassadors and representatives of member states at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

At the beginning of his speech, Dr. Ayman Ashour highlighted Egypt’s support for the st
atement of both the Arab Group, which was delivered by the Permanent Representative of the Sultanate of Oman, and the statement of the Group of 77 and China, which was delivered by the Permanent Representative of the State of Palestine. He also thanked Mrs. Audrey Azoulay for the comprehensive statement that she delivered, including a presentation of the secretariat’s efforts and activities in the areas of competence of the organization.

The Minister also pointed out that the Palestinian people are suffering in an unprecedented way because of the continuation of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip for more than five months, in which tens of thousands of martyrs and wounded fell and hundreds of homes, schools, universities, mosques and churches were destroyed. He stressed that the Arab Republic of Egypt calls on UNESCO to begin implementing the initiative of the organization to put an emergency action plan to deal with the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza.

Source: State Information Service Egypt